seeke myne owne honour and doe thou after the same manner And (e) Note if thou wilt rayse vp the eares of thy soule to heare that lamentable Edict with attention which was made against innocency it selfe proclayming Iesus Christ our Lord throughout those streets of Hierusalem for a malefactour thou (f) Sure I am that we ought to be so wilt be confounded when thou seest that thou art honoured or when thou shalt desire so to be And thou wilt say with a deep cordial sigh O Lord. art thou proclaymed for wicked and I praysed for good What is there that can giue vs greater griefe And not only wilt thou loose the hungar of wordly honour but thou wilt couet greedily to be despysed in conformity of our Lord whome to follow as the Scripture (g) Eccles ââ sayth is great honour And then wilt thou say with S Paul God forbid that (h) Galat. â I should receaue honour but in the Crosse of Iesus Christ our Lord yea thou wilt desire to fullfill that which the same Apostle sayth els (i) Heb. 13. where Let vs go out and seeke Christ in the campe and let vs imitate him in his dishonour Now if this passion of vayne glory be a powerfull kind of thing much more powerfull is the remedy of the example and grace of Christ Which (k) The bloud of our Lord worketh wonders vpon the proud hart of man doth in such sort ouercome roote it out of the hart as to make it find that it is a thing to be abhorred for a Christian to see the Lord of Maiesty abase himselfe to such contempt whilest he vile worme swelleth vp with the loue of honour Therefore is it that our Lord inuiteth encourageth vs by his example saying Haue confidence for I haue ouercome the world As if he had sayd Before I came hither a hard point it was to wrastle with the deceitpfull world casting away that which flourisheth therein and imbracing that which it contemnes but after that it imployed all the forces it had against me inuenting new kinds of torments and dishonour all which I endured without once turning my face aside it is now not only growne weake for hauing encountred with one who was able to suffer more then that but it is euen ouercome outright to your benefit since by my example which I gaue you and by the strength which I haue gayned for you you may at case subdue and trample it vnder your feet Let the Christian man consider that since the world dishonoured the Blessed Sonne of God who is Eternall Truth and our Soueraigne Good there is no cause why any man should esteeme or belieue it in any thing Nay seeing (l) A demonstration why we ought to beleeue the world no more that it was deceaued in not discerning such a light of extreme clarity and in not honouring him who is most true and perfect honour let the Christian man reiect that which the world allowes let him prize loue that which the world doth despise hate Flying with much care from being esteemed by that (m) The World which did despise his Lord and holding it for a great signe of being beloued by Christ to be despised by the world with him and for his sake Out of which this resultes That as they who are of this world haue no eares wherewith to hearken to the truth and doctrine of God nay rather they despise the same so (n) The seruant of our Lord ought at least to be as careful to please him as the seruants of the world are to please it he who taketh the part of Christ is to haue none wherewith to hearken to or to belieue the lies of the world For in fine whether it flatter or persecute whether it promise or threaten whether it speake frightfully or fayre it doth euery where deceaue and hath a mind to doe so and with such eyes we are to looke vpon it And (o) Note this for a most certaine truth it is certayne that for so many lies and false promises wherein we haue taken it tripping if any man should haue told vs but the one halfe we would trust him now in nothing yea hardly should we credit him althogh he might chaunce in other things to say true That (p) If the world do either promise or threaten it lyes which the world can do is indeed neither good nor bad since it cannot eyther giue or take away the grace of God Nay euen in that ouer which it seemeth to haue power it is yet not able to do any thing since it cannot reach to the least hayre of our head without the will of our Lord. And if it tell vs any other tale of it selfe we must not belieue it And who then will not dare to encounter an enemy who hath no power at all CHAP. IV. In what degree and to what end it is lawfull for a man to desire Honour in the world and of the extreme danger which there is in holding places of Authority and Commaund THAT thou mayst the better vnderstand what hath byn sayd thou art to know that it is one thing to loue honour and humane estimation for it selfe as resting therin this is euil as hath byn shewed But another thing it is when these things are beloued for some good end and this is not euill It is a cleare case that a person who hath coÌmand holdeth place may for doing good to others desire that honour and estimation which is fit for the discharge of his employment therby the more to do good (a) Men of authority may desire to be well reputed so that it be to a good end For if men haue him who commaundeth in meane account they will not much esteeme of his commaundement though it be iust And not only this kind of persons but all Christians ought to practise that which is writreÌ Take (b) Eccles 41. care of thy good name Not as if he were to rest in that but because a Christian ought to be such a kind of man as that whosoeuer should vnderstand or behould his life (c) Note might giue the glory to God as we vse to do when we see a rose or a tree full of shade fruite This is that which the holy Ghospell requires That our light may so shine before men that they seing our good workes may giue glory to the celestiall Father from whome all good things proceed This ayme at the honour of God and the profit of men did mooue (d) 1. Cor. 4. S. Paul to recount those great and secret fauours which our Lord had done him without holding himselfe for a transgressour of that other (e) Prou. â7 Scripture which sayth Let the mouth of another prayse thee and not thine owne For (f) He might safely do so but other men must take heed he recounted his own prayies so much without the sticking of
vnder foote that so this most vayne honour may not be lost but that it may be esteemed aboue all things yea euen aboue God himselfe O thou vayne honour which wert condemned by Christ vpon the Crosse vpon the price of his so extreme dishonour and who is he that gaue thee place in the Temple of God which is the hart of a Christian and this with so great aduantage as that after the manner of Antichrist thou wilt more be prized then the most high God Who made thee a competitour with God yea (d) Pride makes a man esteeme himselfe more then God and that thou shouldst euen outstrip him in the harts of some by being more esteemed then he So renewing that vast affront which was done him when they preferred (e) Matth. 27. Barabbas before him We must perforce confesse that thy tyranny is great ouer such harts as make themselues thy subiects and with great expedition and facility do they performe thee seruice whatsoeuer it cost them Aaron (f) Exod. 32. made him self belieue by demanding the golden eare-rings of their wiues children who asked an Idoll at his hands that rather then to see such as they loued to be disadorned they would desist from their wicked desire of a false God But so it fell not out for those things were no sooner askt then giuen Nor did they then nor do men now take care of what is needfull for house or Children so that they may haue an Idoll of honour to which they may offer sacrifice Oftentimes it happens that euen some of them who serue thee doe yet vnderstand well inough how vayne and shaddowy a toy thou art and what a wofull thing it is to follovv thee and being able if they would to deliuer themselues from thy heauy yoake by breaking from thee all at once yet (g) A miserable case is their infirmity misery so great that they rather choose to burst and to proceed against the honour of God then to doe God honour and be at rest by flying from thee God did cast this out for a curse against theÌ who serued false Gods That (h) Sin makes men slaues they should serue them day and night and this is punctually fulfilled by such as do adore this Honour S. Iohn speaking of some principall people of Hierusalem which belieued in Christ but durst not declare themselues for his in respect of men doth say of them with great reproach (i) Ioan. 12. That they loued the honour of men more theÌ that of God Which with much reason may be verifyed vpon these louers of honour since we see that they despise God rather then they wil be despised by men and that they are ashamed to performe his law rather then to be ashamed in the sight of men But let them be doing as long as they list let them honour this Honour euen to the outside of all their power yet firme and fixed doth that sentence stand which was pronounced against them by the soueraigne Iudge Christ Iesus when he sayd He that shal be ashamed of me and of my words of him will the Sonne of the Virgin be ashamed when he shall come in his maiesty and the maiesty of his Father with his Angells And then shall al those Angells and all the saints singe out Iust (k) Psal 118. art thou O Lord thy iudgments are iust For if this vild worme were ashamed to follow the King of Maiesty be thou O Lord ashamed thou who art Honour and Altitude it selfe that a thing so base and so wicked should remayne in company of thee and thyne O (l) Read tremble with what a powder shall the honour of this Babylon be then shot down into the profouÌdest pit of Hell to be tormented in company of the proude Lucifer since these men would needes be his companions in the sinne of pryde Let no man offer to make a ieast of this or esteeme that the loue of worldly honour is a sinne of small importance since our Lord who searcheth the hart said thus to the Pharisies (m) Ioaâ 5. How can you belieue in me since you seeke to be honoured by one another seeke not that honour which proceedes from God alone And now for as much as this vicious affection is so powerfull as that it sufficed to make men forbeare the belieuing in Iesus Christ what mischeife is that which it will not be able to effect who will not blesse himselfe from the same S. Augustine therefore sayd that no man knowes what force he hath more or lesse to conquer the loue of Vayne-glory but he only who maketh warre against it CHAP. III. Of what remedies we are to serue our selues towards the contempt of the Vayne-glory of the world And of the greate force which Christ our Lord doth giue for the ouercomming thereof VVE ought to esteeme it as a great remedy against this mischiefe that it is condeÌned by the very light of Nature For as much as euen that doth teach vs That man is to do workes worthy of Honour but not for Honours sake That he should deserue it but not valew it and that a (a) True nobility noble courage ought to despise both the being esteemed and disesteemed and that nothing should be held in high account but vertue But (b) Note if notwithstanding all this a Christian haue not the hart to contemne this vanity let him rayse his eyes vp to his Lord being placed vpon a Crosse and there he shall see him so surcharged with dishonour that if it be wel considered it may enter into competition with the grieuousnes of those very torments which he there endured Nor did our Lord without cause make choice of a death which might be accompanyed with extreme dishonour but for that he knew what a powerful tyrant this loue of honour was was likely to be in the hart of many who would make no difficulty to expose themselues to death but yet would flye from the manner of the death if it were dishonourable Now to giue vs to vnderstand that neither the one nor the other ought to fright vs he (c) Our Lord chose reproach to confound and reforme our pride chose the death of the Crosse whereupon extreme torments with excessiue dishonour did ioyne hand in hand Behould then if thou haue eyes wherewith to do it how Christ is esteemed for the meanest of men and abased by deep dishonours some of which were brought vpon him by that very death of the Crosse since that was the most infamous of all deaths and others also whereby they outraged our Lord in particuler manner for as much as there was no kind of people which did not imploy it selfe vpon despising iniuring and blaspheming him with certayne fashions of dishonour which neuer were found out before Thus shalt thou perceaue how entirely that was fullfilled which he whilest he was preaching sayd (d) Ioan. â I do not
him So God is not solitary but in the vnity of Essence there are three persons Nor is he couetous or barren since there is a communication of an infinite Deity Neither must thou forbeare to belieue that so it is although thou know not how it commeth to be so since euen because it is so high it carryeth a kind of trace or sent to be a thing of God And because it is better to be so then not euen for this very reason it is a thing which it is fit for God to haue and that so we should belieue it since of God we are to thinke according to the greatnes of God that is the highest that possibly we can imagine CHAP. XL. Wherein answere is made to theÌ who obiect against the receauing of our Faith that it teacheth meane and low thinges of God and how in these meane things which God teacheth most high glory is contayned NEITHER yet is there any reason to stumble at the humility which the most high God took vpon him abasing himselfe to become man to liue in pouerty and to dye vpon a Crosse For these workes are not only not to be sayd vnworthy of God but they are most worthy if they be well vnderstood Indeed if he had abased himselfe because he could not chuse or if by that abasement he had lost the height which he had before or if he had been moued to it by any interest of such an abasement But neither did he leaue to be what he was by taking that which he was not nor came he from heauen to earth by any constraint nor was he induced by regard of profit since God cannot increase in being rich But (a) Note this well discourse and learne to loue God greatly by it he was moued to it by his owne only goodnes and by the loue which he bare to men and the desire which he had to recouer them by such meanes as might be of most glory to himselfe and of most aduantage to vs. And such was the meanes he tooke by making himselfe man and dying vpon a Crosse For there is not a greater signe of loue then that a man should dy for his friends Which loue so excellent did not spring from any desert of theirs but from his owne excellent goodnes So that his lownesse and his death do not argue in him any want of power or goodnesse For as much as he being omnipotent and wholy wise might haue giuen vs remedy by many meanes besides this but it argueth in him an immense excesse of loue and goodnes and this so much the more as God who loueth and suffereth this is the greater and as that which he suffered was more grieuous and painefull and they for whome he suffered were the more vnworthy and base And since in louing such persons his excellent goodnesse is manifested this worke is to be called a great height since in spirituall things high and good are all one and when it is the more good so much the more great and high it is And since the greatest honour which we can do any man is to hold him for good more then for being valiant or wise for as much as no maÌ who is sensible of honour doth not so desire it it is euident that since these workes do manifest his goodnes and loue more then all the rest they giue him consequently more honour and they giue it better then all the rest And (b) In true account nothing doth so exalt Christ our Lord as his abasement if in the opinion of ignorant persons the abasement which God hath made of himselve take honour from his dignity and height it ought in the iudgment of wise men to extoll the honour of his goodnes and consequently of his height and greatnes and so he looseth neither the one nor the other And not only doth his goodnes shine in these workes more then others but so also doth his wisedome and power other his most wonderfull attributes appeare therin For amongst all the workes which God hath wrought or is to work there is none equall in being moruailous nor is there to be found so great a miracle as that God should make himselfe man and suffer afterward for man And whosoeuer belieueth not this doth his best to take from God the greatest honour he hath and greater then if he should take the honour that is due to him for all the other workes which he hath made or is to make in (c) Since the Creation of the world Tyme Consider well of this and thou shalt discerne how the omnipotency and wisedome of Goth doth shine in making two so different extremes to meet in one as are God and man in the vnity of one person And note that his power is more declared in combatting and conquering our sinnes and death by the armes of our weaknes then if he had ouercome them with the weapons of his owne omnipotency as we sayd before whylest we were speaking of despaire And (d) An excellent discourse consider that when God continued in his greatnesse he had but a small people that serued him and the same went also dayly from him to adore strange Gods and euen when it did not so it serued him yet with much weakenes But when God abased himselfe so far as to be man and to dy for him it made such deep impression vpon the minds of men as that they who were high did abase themselues and the weake became strong the wicked good and finally there grew so great a change ouer the world as well in the destruction of idolatry as in the renouation of life and manners that the accomplishment of the word which our Lord spake was plainely seene (e) lo. m. 1â When I shall be exalted from the earth and placed on the Crosse I will draw all things to my selfe And so it appeares that he obteyned that victory ouer the hartes of men by basenesse weakenes tormentes and death which he obteyned not whylest he remained in the height of his Maiesty And thus was that fullfilled which S. Paul (f) t. Cor. 1. sayth The weaknes of God is more theÌ the strength of men And so it also appeareth that God doth not only gaine the honour of goodnesse but of wisedome power also by taking vpon him our basenesse and by working that thereby which he wrought not by his greatnes For this it is that S. Paul (g) Rom. 1. sayth That he is not ashamed to preach the Ghospell since it is the vertue of God for the sauing of men For although this humanity hunger dishonour torment death be truly affirmed of God yet there is no cause for a Christian to be ashamed thereof since by meanes of these thinges God obteined the conquest ouer other thinges that were so mighty as are sinne and death and procured that man might obtayne the grace of God and his Kingdome which are the greatest things that could
they shed teares for the Passion of our Lord but because they fled from the imitation thereof they were cowards and offended God thereby like euill Christians Thou art not therfore to consider the Passion and to haue compassion of out Lord as one that would looke vpon a businesse in the nature of a meere looker on but as one who is to accompany our Lord in the point of sufferance And by looking vpon him procure thou to get strength to drinke of his Chalice with him though it be neuer so bitter Let (g) He aduiseth to corporall pennance as a disposition to the mortification of our passions the beginning and foundation of greater matters wherein thou art to imitate him be in exteriour austerities and the mortification of thy body That so thou mayest carry some resemblance to his diuine flesh which was so full of affliction tormentes farre greater then can be expressed Behold him with stiffe attention how he tasteth of vinegar and gall behold in how straite a bed he is lodged and how bare he is of clothes and how thicke he is apparelled with torments from head to foot and get thou force from hence to fly from the delicacies and ornaments of thy body in thy clothes in thy bed and in thy food And in this and in all the rest which thou canst do without much inconuenience afflict thy body and make it liue vpon a Crosse and that which thou canst not do let indeed thy hart desyre and begge strength of our Lord for it and lament in that he being vpon the Crosse thou deseruedst not to accompany or to imitate him These must be the desires of a Christian who exerciseth himselfe vpon thinking on the Passion if he haue a mind to imitate it For (h) If ther had beene any better way to Heauen then that of the Crosse our Lord Iesus would haue taught vs how to find it but he taught no other when our Lord came from heauen to earth to conuerse with men and to teach them the best and most secure way to heauen and when he was borne did make choice of pouerty of cold and of banishment and as he increased in yeares so did he increase in affliction and the end of his life was the addition of others which were greater then they He honoured these thinges though of themselues they were base and by ioyning them to himselfe he gaue them such a stampe of greatnesse and such tokens of security beauty as to make them grow to be desired For (i) Note this comparison for is doth conuince if a temporall king by apparelling himself in such or such a fashion do instantly make it honourable and to be thought worthy of imitation by all his vassalls how much more shall this be done by that soueraigne King of Kinges whose worth is infinitely more then of all the creatures how high soeuer And he that followeth not this dictamen should be no true vassall of this Lord since he holdes it not for a point of honour to be like him A delightfull thinge it is as saith S. Bernard to imitate the dishonour of him that was crucified but this only belonges to such as are not vngratefull to him And (k) Note this excellent comparison receaue that light and heat which God is willing to grant thee by means thereof now tell me if a King should go on foote and that bare and weary and sweating through the sharpenesse of the way hauing his backe loaden with sackcloth his face with teares and all this to mooue compassion as Dânid did what seruant of his could there be who eyther for loue or shame would not also go on foote and vnshod and as like his King as hâ were able And so the Scripture saith that all thâ seruants of Dauid did and all the people that went ãâã his company But if such a King should commaunâ any of his seruantes that wayted on him to takâ horse and to ride at ease a cruell commaundâment would that be to such a seruant And froâ the roots of his hart he would beseech the King not to put such a huge affront vpon him as that a Royall Maiesty being treated in such a fashion his servant should be seene so contrary to him And if yet notwithstanding the King should persist in the Commandment the seruant indeed would obey him but with so much payne as that placing his eyes vpon the affliction of the King his hart would take no contentment in that ease which exteriourly he was at but esteeming himselfe for more weake and lesse fauoured then the rest he would reckon it amongst the greatest of his misfortunes that he might not go more like his Lord. And that which he should want to do indeed he would not faile to perform with the deepest wishes of his hart taking that ease of his owne in patience but in his desire hauing sufferance Such doubtles is Christ crucifyed to those harts which imploy themselues in looking on him if yet withall they be gratefull as S. Bernard sayth for so great a benefit as it is for God to haue abased himselfe so far as to walke throgh this desert with such misery as neuer man endured For (l) But it will fall downe as we must do by great abasement of our selues for the loue of our Lord Iesus where there is this gratitude no launce can remayne in the Rest any longer and both within and without there is an internall profound desire to clap this Crucifixe as a seale vpon his hart and vpon his arme as a thing whereby he is not only not afflicted or to hold himselfe thereby lesse honoured but as S. Iames sayth They haue it in the place of entââre and perfect iâ that affliction may âe offered them for his sake Such (m) The great nobility of a true Christian hart is the height of theÌ who are grateful to this Lord as that with the knife of the lous of him being crucified they do valiantly destroy those (n) Exod. 22. Idolls of Aegypt which worldly persons do so prize loue whether they be honours or treasures or pleasures giuing him thankes that he vouchsafes to admit them into his company And they go in search being all inflamed with lâue after as many wayes as they can thinke on to suffer more like Elephants being as it were enraged with seeing that the bloud of their Lord is spilt And if it happen to concerne the seruice of the same Lord that they take their ease or possesse the honours and riches of this life they accept them only by obedience and they vse them with feare And you had need giue them much comfort if you will make them content to go on horsebacke when they see him on foot whome they loue so much more then their owne liues Such I say is the altitude of the state of Christian men and such a change hath Christ wrought in thinges since the tyme
nor any good purpose which he hath giuen me towardes his seruice nor one day of heauen which I expect heereafter and as (z) Gen. 31. Iacob affirmed I am lesse then any of the mercyes of God And if our Lord do say that they who do all that which they are commanded are yet to humble themselues and affirme that (a) Luc. 17. they are vnprofitable seruants that they did but that which they were bound to do how much more then am I to humble my selfe since I fall into so many faults by ignorance by weaknes or by malice A slaue I am and a wicked slaue and I serue not God so much as I am able and much lesse as much as I owe him And if he had cast his eye vpon that which I haue deserued of him a long tyme is past since he would haue throwne me into hell for the sinnes which I haue committed and for many other also into which he might iustly haue permitted me to fall Let this be therfore the feeling which thou hast of thy selfe let this be the place wherein thou mayst put thy selfe since this is that which for thy part thou dost deserue And let thy care be to serue our Lord the best thou canst without reflecting greatly vpon how much it is and without conceauing that God is bound to thank thee for it or that thou art able as Iob (b) Iob. â sayth To answere him one for a thousand of what thou oughtst him And when thou hearest men speake of the much that good workes deserue let not thy hart grow vaine vpon it but say It is thy mercy O Lord thankes be giuen to thee who hast imparted such dignity to our vnworthy seruices And by such meanes as this be thou euer sure to remayne in thy true place of being a negligent vnworthy slaue CHAP. CXIII That a man being humbled and abased by the contents of the last Chapter may enioy that greatnes which our Lord vouchsafeth to impart to the workes of such as are iust with confidence and gratitude THY soule being thus secured from the aforesayd daungers by this consideration which our Lord doth teach vs thou mayst securely enioy the greatnes and dignity which he giueth to such as are his and thou art to blesse him in regard that euen to such as naturally are but slaues he infuseth his grace whereby they are made the adopted sonnes of God and if sonnes they are heyres togeather with Christ as S. Paul (a) Rom. 8. sayth Now because it is reason that such as are receaued for the sonnes of God should liue and worke according to the condition of the Father our Lord giues them the Holy Ghost and many guiftes and vertues whereby they may serue him and performe his law and giue him gust And they who for any seruices which they could do how great soeuer they were being considered in themselues did not passe aboue the roofe of their owne houses haue now drunke deeply of the water of grace And (b) How grace doth dignify our works by what meanes this growes this is so powerfull that it maketh a fountaine euen in the bowells of them which sproutes vp as high as eternall life by the valew whereof their good workes how little soeuer they be do also rise vp reach to eternall life because they deserue it for the reasons which are already touched And now reflect vpon the difference that runs between thee being considered in thy selfe and thee when thou art considered in God and in his grace Of thy selfe thou art but a huge bill of debt and how much soeuer thou doest thou art not only vnable to deserue eternall life but not so much as to pay what thou owest whereas in God in his grace the selfe same seruice which thou art bound to do is receaued into accompt for merit of eternall life And our Lord without being obliged so much as to thanke thee and much lesse to pay thee for that which thou doest for him doth yet ordayne thinges in such sort as that the good workes of his seruantes may be rewarded by their possessing him in heauen And though God owe nothing to any man for that which man is able to do for him yet he oweth it (c) How diuinely did S. Augustin expresse this by saying that Deus is debitor bonitati suae I he debtour to his own goodnes to himselfe whose ordination is in all iustice and reason yea and that most entirely to be accomplished Giue therefore glory vnto God for these fauours and know that if he had not bin a Father of mercy to S. Paul in giuing him a life which was full of merits S. Paul would not haue presumed to say when he was neere his death That the iust iudge was to giue him a crowne of iustice God (d) God sheweth his mercy in first giuing his grace and then his iustice in rewarding it according to his promise and it all redoundeth to his glory crowned him by iustice but first he gaue him the merites of grace and so doth all redound to the glory of God eyther vnder the title of a iust Rewarder of that which we haue done well or as a mercifull and primitiue Imparter of the good which we haue done and no man can deny this but he that will depriue God of his honour Put thy selfe therefore into thyne owne true place and esteeme thy selfe worthy of hell and of all miseries and vnworthy of the least good And (e) See heere the excellent immaculate doctrine of the holy Catholik Church yet be not dismaied by this consideration of thyne owne basenes but discharging all kind of pusillanimity hope thou in the mercy of God that since he hath placed thee in his way he will strengthen thee so farre as to proceed therein till thou mayst gather the fruit of eternall life from those good workes which heere by his grace thou didst performe CHAP. XCIIII That from the loue which we beare our selues we must draw a reason of louing our neighbours SINCE already thou hast vnderstoood with what eyes thou art to looke both vpon thy self and vpon Christ our Lord it remaines for the fulfilling of the prophets wordes which bid thee See that thou know with what eyes thou art to looke vpon thy neighbours that so on all sides thou maiest haue light and that no darknes may find thee out And for this purpose thou art to note that he beholdeth his neighbour well who beholdeth him with eyes which (a) The only good payre of spectacles through which we are to looke vpon our Neighbours first did passe both though himselfe and through Christ our Lord. My meaning is this When a man findeth trouble and paine for as much as concernes his body or else affliction ignorance and frailty for as much as concernes his soule it is playne that he feeleth incommodity and his sicknes troubleth him and he desireth nothing lesse then
nothing of the matter which signifieth that he did not approue or like it And he that shall consider how God (t) Osâae c. 8. abandoned King Saul the same God hauing placed him in the Kingdom wil find that he (v) A sad example but fit for ambitious men to looke much vpon hath much reason to vndeceiue himselfe since there will be no assurance giuen him by any that he is not to proue as frayle as Saul but only by his owne pride and ambition of command Of (x) Note this I am very sure that he shal neuer more honestly enter into it then Saul did S Augustine had reason when he sayd That authority and dignity is necessary for such as are to rule the people and that when a man is in it he must administer it according to reason but that it is vnlawfull for him that hath it not to desire it And of himselfe he sayd That he desired and procured to saue his soule in a low place that he might not put it to hazard in a higher This is especially to be done when the place whereof we speake doth concerne the charge of soules the well discharging whereof doth carry with it so much difficulty as that it is called the Art of Artes. These (y) Certaine excellent directions for practise dangers ought to be fled by vs as much as with a morall possibility we may in imitation of the example already touched which our Lord did shew in flying from the acceptance of a Kingdome he hath represented to vs many other holy wise persons who haue fled the like with al the harts they had And such as enter into these places had need do it either by reuelatioÌ of our Lord or by obedience to such as haue power to command them or by counsell of such others as do well vnderstand the obligation of such an office and the dangers thereof and they must be sure to keep the iudgment of God before their eyes and to cast all temporall respects behind their backes If these conditions may not be found it will at least be needfull that there be ground for good coniecture that God is pleased to lay such a burthen vpon them that such or such a man may giue credit to those coniectures before he imbarke himself into so great a danger And notwithstanding all this there will be matter inough of feare and continuall watch must be kept and our Lord must be prayed that since he kept the entrance free from ill he may also defend them in the issue of it for feare least otherwise it end in euerlasting condemnation For we haue seen many of them who liued with much contentment in such command dye full of wishes that they had neuer beene imployed therein and loaden with great feares of that whereof before they were in their opinion secure And (z) Platerv and false iudgment is then out of date in all likelyhood the truth of a mans iudgment concerning temporall thinges doth shine brighter vpon him when he is departing from them when he is more approaching to the iudgment of God wherein all Truth remaynes CHAP. V. How much we ought to fly from the pleasure of flesh and âloud and what a most dangerous Enemy this is of what helpes we are to serue our selues for the subduing thereof FLESH and Bloud speakes of Delights and pleasures sometymes expresly sometymes vnder a colour of necessity The warre which is made vpon vs by this enemy besids that it brings vs much affliction is full of danger Because it fightes with pleasure in the hand which is (a) Note and take heed the strongest weapon of all others This doth euideÌtly appeare since many haue beene conquered by pleasure who were not so by riches honours or eueÌ by cruel torments Nor is it any meruayle For this ware is so secret and so in the way of ambush or treasoÌ that a man had need of much coÌsideration for his defence Who (b) We may well beleeue it vpon the infinit experieÌce that hath byn takeÌ would belieue that death and death eternall should come towards vs vnder a maske of sweet and smooth delight death being the top of bitternesse delight the very thing that we most aspire to tast A cup of gold with a draught of poyson is this false pleasure whereby they are made drunke who haue no eyes but for the exteriour This is the treason of (c) 2. Reg. 20. Ioab who killed Amasus by imbracing him and of (d) Matt. 26. Marc. 14. Luc. 22. Iudas who by that treacherous kisse of peace deliuered ouer his blessed mayster into the hands of death So is it when by drinking the pleasure of a mortal sin Christ dyeth in the soule vpon whose death it also dies for company for the life it had came from him So sayth (c) Rom. 8. S. Paul If you liue according to the flesh you shal dy And in another place (f) Tim. 5. The widdow that remaynes in pleasure being yet aliue is dead aliue by the life of her body but dead by that of her soule By how much the more closely we are ioyned to this (g) It is a traytour lodging in our bosome flesh and bloud so much the more we are to feare it for our Lord hath sayd (h) Matt. 10â That a mans enemies are they of his owne house And this flesh bloud is not only belonging to this house of ours but of the two walls whereof the same house is made this is one For this and other reasons S. Augustin sayd that the combate of our flesh bloud was continuall and the conquest full of difficulty and whosoeuer will proue victorious must go armed with many and strong (i) Of Armes pieces For the pretious iewell of chastity is not imparted to al but to such as by the much sweat of many earnest prayers and of other holy peÌnance do obteyne it of our Lord. He was pleased to be wrapt in a fayre sheete of linnen which must passe through many rude handlings before it wil come to be white Wherby we may vnderstaÌd that the man who desireth to obteyne to conserue the guift of chastity and so to lodge Christ in himself as if it were in another sepulâher must be content with a great deale of cost labour to gayne this purity (k) Chastity is such a iewell as that it can neuer be ouer-bought which is a thing so rich that whatsoeuer be spend vpon it he may account himself to buy it cheap And as many more painfull works of pânnance satisfaction are to be required at his hands who hath much offended our Lord then at his who hath not so much offended so though all of vs who liue in flesh must be afrayd of it and watch ouer it bridle it and rule it with discreet-temperance yet they who particulerly are infested by it wil haue need to vse
it is somewhat els which suggested and represented them to his mind When you haue these or such other signes as these be well assured that it is a persecution of the Diuell and that howsoeuer you may suffer it in your flesh and bloud yet is it not from thence that it proceeds This warre is more dangerous then the other through the much euill which he wisheth vs by whome it is made and for that he is an enemy that is neuer weary of fighting when we are eyther waking or sleeping at all tymes and in all places The remedy of this inconuenience is d To put thy selfe vpon some honest busines is a good diuersion to procure some good imployment which may put vs into thought and care making vs thereby cast off those impure imaginations S. Hierome for this purpose as himselfe relates gaue his mind to the study of the Hebrew tongue with much labour but not without much fruit and he sayth Let the Diuell euer find thee well imployed Speaking also in conformity of this how profitable the manner of life which is lead in Monasteryes was to this purpose he instructeth it saying thus e S. Hierome was no Protestant See that euery day thou performe whatsoeuer thou hast in charge and be subiect to whome thou wouldest not and go well weary to thy bed yea and so that euen as thou art walking thou mayst be ready to fall downe a sleep Be thou also inioyned to rise before thou hast slept thy fill and recite thy Psalme when it commeth to thy turne and serue thy brethren and wash the feet of strangers and when thou art wronged hold thy peace and as for the f So that in S. Hieromes tym there were Abbots and Monasteries Abbot of the Monastery see thou feare him as if he were some great Lord and see thou loue him as if he were thyne owne Father and beleeue that all g Vâles euidently it should contayne some sin Such is the religious obedience which is practised in the holy Catholicque Church and such a Papist as you see was S. Hierome that which he commandeth thee is fit for thee to obey him in and take not thou vpon thee to iudge of thy superiours since thy office is but to obey and to comply with that which is commanded according to that which Moyses sayth Hearken O Israel and hold thy peace Being thus imployed vpon diuers thinges there will be no place for euill thoughts and when thou art to passe from the doing of one to another haue that only in thy mind which thou art then about This is sayd by S. Hierome and according to this it was then the vse of Monasteryes to exercise their younger men more in these good imploymeÌts theÌ in solitude large Prayer through the dangers which by flesh and bloud and passions as yet vnmortifyed both might and did grow vpon them Though yet this rule is subiect to an exception through the diuersity of dispositions and the particuler gifts of God (h) Men must not be restrained from liberty to make much prayer but vpon very particuler reasons Vpon which motiues there may be reason to allow a large tyme of prayer to a yong man and to abridge another who is more in yeares When I sayd before that yong men did not imploy themselues in large prayer I vnderstand that to haue beene large wherein almost all his tyme was spent and as if in effect he had no other office but that For not to let him haue some good spaces for it should be a very great errour by reason of the benefits which he should loose therby and (i) There is nothing which maks our miseries and burthens so light as the frequentatioÌ of Prayer because euen for the well going through any other imployment it is necessary that he gaine strength and spirit in his Prayer For otherwise they who are exteriourly imployed are wont to be still complaining and vntoward like (k) Marke this comparison for it is a good one a cart that is loaden without hauing the wheeles made easy towards turning by the tendernesse of deuotion Let beginners be aduertised that the Diuell doth particulerly procure to trouble them with these impure imaginations in the tyme of their prayer that so they may be induced to leaue it the Diuel himselfe may so take his ease the whyle For although the Diuell doe much weary vs by these tentations much more doe we weary and euen add fyre to him by our deuout (l) Prayer is a scourg to the Diuell prayers therfore he procureth that we eyther make them not at all or not well But we on the otherside ought euen as it were for spight against him to labour with al possibility that so we may not giue ouer that holy exercise since euen by the very persecution it selfe which he bringes vpon vs we may see how profitable it is And if the warre should presse vs so hard whilest we are praying mentally as that we might find much danger by impure imaginations the least that we must doe is to put our selues into vocall prayer and to beate our breastes to punish our bodies to cast our armes into the forme of a Crosse to rayse our hands and eyes towards heauen desiring succour of our Lord in such sort as that howsoeuer the tym which we deputed for prayer may be wel imployed We must else do somewhat that may diuert vs and especially procure to speake with some good man that may giue vs hart Though (m) He meanes that we must not giue ouer our Prayer for the going to aske couÌsayle but we must do that afterward this last should not be done at that tyme til we can no more that so we may not discouer our weakenesse in not being able to ouercome otherwise then by flight and least our enemy do so make vs quit the field and distrust our forces For in fine our Lord who is both full of pitty and full of power will impose silence vpon our aduersary when it shal be fit for vs that he may not interrupt the priuate and friendly conuersation which we were wont to hould with him CHAP. VII Of the great peace which our Lord God giueth to them that fight manfully against this Enemy of the much that it importeth vs for the ouercomming of him to fly from familiarity with women ALL these skirmishes are wont to be made in the warre against chastity when our Lord permitteth it for the triall of his Caualliers whether indeed they truly loue him and chastity for which they fight And after that he hath found them faithfull he sendeth downe his omnipotent fauour and commaundeth our aduersary not to giue impediment to our peace and priuate speach with him Then doth a man taste the fruite of his labours and they are full of sauour to him and more full of merit It is also necessary and very necessary for the
ignorant That (a) Eccl. 7. in the day of prosperity which we haue we must be calling those (b) A safe and most profitable aduice miseryes to mind which we may haue and that we must take in those diuine consolations by the weight of Humility accompanying it with the holy feare of God least otherwise he experience that which Dauid himselfe deliuered Thou turnedst thy face from me and I was troubled Another cause of his fall is giuen vs to be vnderstood in holy Scripture by saying that at such tymes as the Kings of Israel were wont to passe into the warres against the infidells King (c) 2 Reg. 1. Dauid stayed at home And walking vp and down vpon a tarrasse of his pallace he saw that which was the occasion of his adultery and of the murther also not only of one but many All this had byn auoyded if he had gone to fight the battailes of God according to the custome of other Kings and himselfe had done so other yeares If (d) A good lesson to vs Catholike to be sympathizing alwayes with the Holy Church our Mother both in sorrow and in spirituall ioy according to the diuersity of tymes occasions thou wilt be wandring vp and downe when the seruants of God are recollected if thou wilt be idle when they labour in good workes if thou wilt be dissolutely sending thyne eyes abroad whilest theirs are weeping bitterly both for themselues and others and if when they are rising vp by night to pray thou art sleeping and snorting and leauing of by occasion of euery fancy the good exercises which thou wert wont to vse and by the force and heate whereof thou wert kept on foote how doest thou thinke to preserue chastity being carelesse vnprouided of defensiue weapons and hauing so many enemies who are so stout laborious and compleatly armed in fighting against it Do (e) Note not deceiue thy selfe for if thy desire to be chast be not accompanied by deeds which are fit for the defence of that vertue thy desire will prooue vayne and that will happen to thee which did to Dauid Since thou art not more priuiledged more stout nor more a Saint then he And to conclude this matter of the occasions through which this pretious treasure of chastity is wont to be lost thou art to vnderstand that the cause why God permitted that the flesh shold rebell against reason in our first parents from whome we haue it by inheritance was for that they rebelled against God by disobeying his commandement He chastized them in conformity of their sinne and thus it was That (f) Note Lex Taliotus since they would not obey their superiour their inferiour should not obey them and so the vnbridled nesse of this flesh being a subiect and a slaue rebelling against her superiour which is reason is a punishment âayd vpon reason for the disobedience with she committed against her superiour which is God Be therfore very carefull that thou be not disobedient to thy superiours least God permit that thy inferiour which is thy flesh do rebell against thee as he suffered Adad to rebell against King Salomon (g) 3. Regâ 12. his Lord and least he scourge persecute thee and by thy weakenesse draw thee downe into mortall sinne And if with the inward eyes of thy hart thou haue vnderstood that which heere with the eyes of thy body thou hast read thou wilt see how great reason there is that thou shouldest looke to thy selfe and consider what there is within thy selfe And (h) No man can see himselfe exactly but by light from heauen because thou art not exactly able to know thyne owne soule thou art to begg light of our Lord and so to sift the most secret corners of thy hart that there may be no ill thing there which eyther thou knowest or knowest not off by meanes whereof thou mightest through some secret iudgement of God runne hazard to loose the treasure of chastity which yet it doth so much import thee to keep safe by meanes of his diuine assistance CHAP. XIV How much we ought to fly from the vaine confidence of obteyning victory against this enemy by our owne only industry and labour and that we must vnderstand it to be the guist of God of whom it is to be humbly asked by the intercession of the Saintes and in particuler of the Virgin our Blessed Lady ALL that which hath byn sayd and more which might be sayd are meanes for the obtayning and keeping of this pretious purity But it happeneth oftentymes that as although we bringe both stone and wood and all other necessary materialls for the making of a house yet we do not fall vpon the buylding of it so also doth it come to passe that vsing all these remedies we yet obtayne not the chastity which we so much desire Nay there are many who after hauing had liuely desires thereof and taken much paynes for the obtayning of it do yet see themselues miserably fallen or violently at least tormented in their flesh with much sorrow they say We haue laboured all night and yet we haue taken nothing And it seemeth to them that in themselues that is fulfilled which the Wiseman sayd The (a) Eccl. 7. more I sought it the further off it fled away This (b) Take heed of trusting to thy selfe vseth oftentymes to happen by reason of a secret confidence which these proud labourers haue in themselues imagininge that chastity was a fruite which grew from their only endeauour and not that it was a guift imparted by the hand of God And for not knowing of whom it was to be asked they iustly were depriued of it For (c) God sheweth mercy sometyme euen in suffring vs to sal into âânne it had byn of more preiudice to them to haue kept it since withall they would be proud and vngratefull to God then to be without it yet withall to be full of sorrow and humility and so to be forgiuen by pennance It is no small part of wisedome to know by whom chastity is giuen and he is gone a good piece of the way towardes the obteyning of it who indeed belieueth that it comes not from the strength of man but that it is the guift of our Lord. This doth he teach vs in his holy Ghospell saying All are not capable of this word but they to whome it is giuen by God And although the remedies already pointed out for the obtayning of this happinesse be full of profit and (d) We must both worke pray for neither of them both alone will serue the turne that we must employ our selues thereupon yet must that be with this condition that we place not our confidence in them but let vs deuoutly pray to God which Dauid did both practise and aduise by saying I did cast vp myne eyes to the mountayns from whence my succour shall descend my succour is of our Lord who made heauen
considered of dangerous poyson doth he drink who committeth sinne A most deformed and terrible face it hath in the eyes of such as truly consider of it and very able to afright any man though he be neuer so stout if he pause and consider with a liuely feeling what that is which he hath done thereby and against whom he hath done it and the promises of happynes which he hath lost and the threates of misery that hang ouer his head Dauid beholding these thinges doth cry out though he were full of courage My hart hath fayled me But this so great misery is noâ left by God without remedy as hath byn sayd And to the end that he who needeth remedy may haue it I will declare somewhat of the greatnes of the mercy of God which he vseth towardes sinners that aske his pardon The Diuell will not faile to play his parte and will fright thee as hath byn sayd by representing the greatnes of thy sins But make thou no answeare only turne thy selfe to God and say For thy names sake O Lord pardon my sinne (b) A strange reason but so good is God as that it workes vpon him for it is great And if God wil giue thee grace to find out the mystery of these wordes certainly thou wilt be farre from despaire how much soeuer thou haue sinned Didst (c) Be sure to marke this well thou euer see or heare of any Tribunall of a iudge where a man being accused of many and grieuous crimes with intention that he might be condemned punished according to his demerit himselfe should confesse his fault and admit of the accusation and should take for the meanes of his pardon the confession it sâlfe of that very thing which the accuser did so much exaggerate and whereby he laboured so to condemne him So as thou art to make account that the guilty person speaketh thus O Lord I graunt all and I confesse that I haue sinned much but thou shalt pardon me for the honour of thy name And this course taketh effect with him both in respect of God and in regard of himselfe Our (d) A consideration of vnspeable comfort for vs. Lord God hath both iustice and mercy and when he beholdeth our faultes with iustice they prouoke him to wrath and the more sinnes we haue committed we vrge him to inflict the greater punishment But agayne when he looketh vpon our sinnes with mercy they mooue him not to anger but to compassion because (c) Noâe he doth not consider them as an offence of his but as a misery of ours And as there cannot happen to vs a thing that hurteth vs so much as sinne so also is there not to be found so fit an obiect for his mercy to worke vpon as the same sinne if it be considered as I haue sayd And so much more as we haue sinned so much more hurt haue we done our selues and so much more do we prouoke to mercy the hart which hath it and which is disposed to vse it as is the hart of our mercifull Lord who is the true shewer of mercies Know therefore now that the men who haue sinned much doe carry themselues in one of these two manners Some (f) Obstinate and insolent despayring sinners despayring of remedy like Cain do turne their backs to God and deliuer themselues ouer as S Paul sayth to all filthynesse and sinne and their hartes do harden dayly more and more against all goodnesse So farre at that euen when they are in the deep bottome of iniquity it neuer troubleth them but they take pryde therein and so much more is it fit to haue compassion of them as they haue none of themselues The thing which happeneth to these men is that whereof the scripture speaketh With the hard hart it shall go yll in the latter end And woe be to him who is to feele this yll for it were better for him that he had neuer byn borne There (g) The sinner who is penitent are others who hauing committed many sinnes doe by the help of God returne to themselues and wounding their hart with greife and being full of confusion and shame do humble themselues before the mercy of God and that with so much more humility and cordiall sorrow as their sinnes haue byn greater more And because God doth lodge his eyes vpon an humbled and contrite hart and when men are humbled he giueth them grace more grace he giueth to such as he findeth more humbled and the occasion thereof was the hauing committed so many sinnes which they confesse and bewayle but without despayre And they do thus alleadge and beg before the mercy of God That since their misery and ruine is very great his mercy may be also plentifull and very great Thus sayd Dauid Haue mercy O Lord vpon me according to thy great mercy Now because God as hath byn sayd looketh with eyes of mercy vpon the sinner who is contrite and humbled there doth he giue a greater pardon and a larger grace then where there were not so many sinnes nor so much humiliation Fulsilling that which S. Paul (h) Rom. ââ hath sayd That where sinne abounded grace did superabound and thus a mans greater fall doth result to the greater prayse of God since he giueth him greater pardon and more grace And (i) A most soueraigne remedy against despayre where now is he who vnderstanding this will despayre for being subiect to many debtes since he seeth that the liberality and bounty of our Lord is more discouered more glorifyed in making such a large and generall release and that God taketh it as a point of honour to his Name to pardon and to pardon much Nay knowing that it is but iustice that our Lord and his Name should be glorifyed we will say without despayre yea and not without great confidence For thy name O Lord thou shalt pardon my sinne euen because it is great But (k) Note Now the glory which God draweth from hence doth no way grow from this sinne of ours for sinne is of it selfe a high contempt and a great irreuerence against God (l) See how artificiall the deer goodnes of God is to wicked mankind but this proceedeth from his omnipotent diuine bounty which draweth good out of euill and procureth that his enemies may serue him by giuing matter for his friends to prayse him Call to mind that when the people of God remayned in Egypt men found themselues in great affliction and they did but expect their death by the hands of their enemies who came close vpon them Yet Moyses sayd to them Feare (m) A place of Holy Scripture diuinely pondered nothing for these Egyptians shall perish and you shall neuer see them more And when the sea had drowned them and cast them vp vpon the shoare the children of Israel made a stand to looke vpon them And although they saw them yet they saw them dead and consequently
without feare of seing them as if they had seene them no more Hereby they tooke occasion to giue glory to him that slew them and they sayd Let vs singe vnto our Lord for he hath beene gloriously magnifyed and he hath drowned both horse and horsemen in the sea All this is a figure of that straite affliction wherein our sinnes do put vs representing themselues vnto our soules as enemyes of mighty strength who are about to kill and swallow vs vp But the word of God being full of all reason to make vs hope doth giue vs hart by requiring that we despayre not and that we turn not backe vpon the vices of Egypt but that proceeding in the good purpose whereby we began to walke in the way of God we should keep on foot being comforted in his assistance to the end that we may see his wonders Which are that in that sea of his mercy and in the crimson bloud of Iesus Christ his Sonne our sinnes are drowned so also is the Diuell who came mounted vpon them like a Cauallier that so neither he not they may do vs hurt But (n) A circumstaÌce excellently applyed rather we remembring them although they grieue vs as it is fit they should they may yet giue vs occasion to render thankes and glory to our Lord God for hauing beene such a father of pitty in pardoning vs and of supreme wisedome in drawing good out of our euill by giuing true death to sinne which killed vs. And that which remayneth therof in vs aliue which is the memory of hauing committed it doth but serue that his elect may grow the better by it and become the exalters of his honour CHAP. XXII Where he prosecutes the treaty of the Mercy of God which he vseth towards vs his Maiesty ouercomming our enemyes after an admirable manner THIS admirable maister-piece of Gods hand which driueth treacle out of poyson against the very poyson it selfe and draweth the destruction of sinne out of the very sinne doth spring and carry a resemblance to another piece of prowesse which the most High hath wrought not lesse but greater both then that other and then all the rest This was the worke of the Incarnation and Passion Wherein God was not pleased to fight with the weapons of the greatnes of his maiesty but by taking those of our weaknesse and apparailing himselfe with human flesh which howsoeuer it were free from all sinne it did yet resemble the flesh of sinners for as much as it was subiect to that payne and death which sinne had brought into the world And by this paine and death which without their being his due he tooke vpon him he ouercame and destroyed our sinne and they being destroyed both payne death which entred in by their meanes were destroyed also As (o) A noble consideration and a lâuely comparison if a man should set the body of a tree on fyre by the braunches of the same tree and so should burne vp both the tree and the braunches How (p) The infinitenes of our obligatioÌ to our Lord Iesus greatly O Lord is thy glory magnified and with how much reason are we to sing to prayse thee more then they praysed Danid for going into the field against Golias who put the people of God into straites when there was none that could ouercome yea or who had the courage to set vpon him But thou O Lord our King our honour dissembling as it were the weapons of thy Omnipotency diuine life which thou hast as thou art God didst fight with him by taking that stafle of the Crosse into thy hand and in thy most holy body fiue stones which were the fiue wounds and so thou didst ouercom and kill him And although the stones were fiue yet one of them had beene inough for the victory For if thou hadst endured lesse then what thou didst endure there would yet haue beene merit inough for our Redemption But (q) Note thy pleasure was O Lord that our redemption should be copious and superaboundant That so weake persons might be comforted such as were negligent inflamed by seeing the excessiue loue wherewith thou didst suffer for vs and kill our sinnes being figured in the person of Golias whomâ Dauid slew not with any sword which he might haue carryed of his owne but by the very sword of the Giant and so the victory became more glorious and the enemy was made subiect to more dishonour Much (r) The infinite wisedom which did accompany the iâ finne mercy of God honour had our Lord gained if with his owne weapons of life and diuine Omni potency he had fought against our sinnes death and had so defeated them But much more did he gaine in ouercomming them without so much as drawing his sword Nay by taking the same sword that is the effect of sinne which is payne and death he did in flesh condemne sinne offering his flesh to be made subiect to payne and such hard vsage as if it had beene the flesh of a sinner being indeed both of a iust man and of God That so by this meanes as S. Paul sayth The iustification of the law might be fullfilled in vs who walke not according to the flesh but the spirit And since the iustification of the Law is fullfilled in vs by our walking according to the spirit it is plaine that these being such workes as wherwith the Law is fullfilled are such as it requireth at our hands and wherby satisfaction is giuen to it and so it groweth to be euident that he spake falsly who sayd That (s) This is saâd by nââe but our moderne Sectaryes all the workes which were done by a iust man were sinne Christ (t) They who affirme as our Sectaââs do that sinne doth still remayne in the soule of persons who are penitent pardoned depriue the passion of our Lord of the better part of the worth thereof did perfectly ouercome sinne both by deseruing pardon for such as were past and force for the auoyding of such as might be to come and so he freed our soules from the law of sinne Because we are no longer subiect to the command thereof and he deliuered vs from the hurt or payne due vnto it since by giuing vs grace to suffer payne we satisfied for that to which we might be liable in Purgatory and besides it helpeth vs to gayne crownes in heauen He did further also deliuer vs froÌ the law of death For howsoeuer we be to passe that way we are not yet to remay ne therein but as one who laieth himselfe downe to sleepe and is afterward awaked our Lord will rayse vs vp to leade a new life which neuer is to dye againe And that life is to be so happy as that it shall reforme this base body of ours and shall conforme it to the body of his brightenesse and then we shal be ioyfull and entirely secure and despising our
he that shal begin such a warre cannot bring in his company a thing of greater preiudice then pusillanimity of hart For he that hath this will be put to flight euen by shaddowes With much reason did God command in tymes past That when his people were in the warres his Priests should encourage them before they began to fight not by humane reasons of the multitude of their men and strength but by thinking vpon the (f) Firrne hope in God is the only souÌd receite against hart-breaking protection of the Lord of hoastes who holdeth victory in his hand and who is wont to conquere lofty Giants by little grasse-hoppers for the glory of his holy Name And agreably to this which God commanded the valorous S. Paul sayth to them who were entring into the spirituall warre Comfort (g) Ephes 4. your selues in our Lord and in the power of his strength that so being hartned you may fight the battailes of God with cheerefullnesse and courage So is it read of Iudas Machabaeus who fought with cheerefulnes and so he conquered And S. Anthony a man well experienced in theses piritual combats was wont to say That this spirituall cheerefullnesse was an admirable thing and a powerfull remedy towards the ouercomming of our enemyes For certain it is that the delight which is taken in doing of any worke doth increase a mans forces towards the doing of it Therefore (h) How necessary it is to haue alacrity and courage in the seruice of God doth S. Paul aduise vs thus Reioyce alwayes in our Lord. And we read of S. Francis that he reprehended such of his fryars as he saw to go sadly vp and downe as if they were ill contented and he would say to them He that serneth God should not be after this fashion vnles it were for hauing committed a sinne and if thou haue committed any confesse it and returne to thy former alacrity And of S. Dominicke it is also read That there appeared in his face a kind of cheerefull serenity which gaue testimony of his inward ioy This is wont to grow out of the loue of our Lord and from a liuely hope of his mercy whereby they are able to carry their Crosse vpon their backes not only with patience but euen with pleasure as they did whose goods were stolne yet they remayned content the reason of that was because they had lodged in their harts a better kind of riches in heauen Experimenting that which S. Paul sayd Being ioyfull in hope and patient in tribulation for (i) It is hard to haue patience in a longe-liued Crosse without hauing a great hope in God without the former men can hardly ariue to the later But when this vigour and alacrity fayleth it deserueth great compassion to see how men that walke in the way of God are full of vnprofitable sadnesse their harts being discontented and without gust in things that belong to God and vntoward euen to themselues and to their neighbours and with so little confidence in the mercy of God that there wanteth not much to make it none There are many amongst these persons who commit no mortall sinnes or very rarely But they say that because they serue not God as they ought and as they desire and by reason of the veniall sinnes which they commit they liue in such a fashion as we see But (k) A worse effect of an euil cause if the effects of superfluous sadnes be such as these they do men more harme then the faults themselues which they committed And that which they might preuent and cut off if they had discretion and courage they make to increase and so they fall out of one euill into another Such as they ought to procure and labour to serue God withal diligence if they see they fall let (l) This is indeed good counsaile them weep but not distrust and knowing that they are weaker then they thought let them humble themselues more and demand more grace and liue with greater caution taking help of the tyme past for the tyme to come There (m) Excessiue sloath doth sointymes also cast men afterward vpon despayre are many who on the contrary syde are carelesse and slothfull in seruing God and when they fall into sinne they know not how to help themselues but they go down into the pit of disconfidence and of greater negligence Whereas in very deed for the auoyding of despaire we must auoyd to be lukewarme and negligent in the seruice of God For (n) No man can haue a good hope who endeauours not to lead a good life otherwise as long as a man hath these rootes within him he cannot though he would neuer so faigne haue that vigour and strength of minde which (o) Note this point well groweth from a good and diligent life And if such persons would consider that they endure more (p) The Diuells Martyrs trouble by these sadde and despairing thoughtes which grow from melancholy then they should in cutting vp by the roote those cuill affections and dangerous occasions which hinder them from seruing God with feruour they would especially since they loue to fly from payne make choyce of those troubles which are annexed to the perfection of vertue to fly those others which follow vpon the want thereof S. Paul (q) â Tâââ 4. sayth That the end of the law is Charity which proceedeth from a pure hart and vpright conscience and a fayth vnfeigned And he meaneth this vpright conscience to be hope as S. Augustine sayth giuing thereby to vnderstand that vnlesse there be a good conscience hauing fayth and loue and good works which flow from thence there (r) There may be in such men a fond daÌgerous kind of presumption such as the Sectaryes are acquainted with but no true Christian hope which is pleasing to God wil be no liuely hope which may giue vs alacrity and if there be any want at all of good conscience there wil be also want of cheerefulnesse and consclation which are caused by a perfect hope For although such a fearefull man be not slayne perhaps by sinne but do liue in state of grace yet he shall worke but weakely So as they who tell thee Belieue that God doth pardon thee and loue thee and then thou shalt be pardoned and loued with such other words as these doe (s) As Luther and Caluin hauedone their followers grieuously deceiue thee and they giue testimony that they speake by imagination not by experience or according to the doctrine of fayth And (t) A most certaine a most soueraign truth the not vnderstanding whereof makes so many cast themselus away by violent death such braueries as those for as much as they are not of God cannot hold a man vpon his feete when tribulation coÌmeth if it be a sound one Strength of hart and the ioy of a good conscience are the fruites of a good life which they
thing which the Diuell went about though he went by a kind of circling way by bringing in thoughtes of a different nature Now (b) Note thy course must be rather to increase in thy well doing then to decay as if one would do it euen of purpose to make the Diuell retyre with loste when he thought to haue gone on with gaine And if thou want tendernesse of deuotion do not trouble thy selfe for that for as much as our seruices are not to be measured otherwise then by the rate of our loue which (c) Note this well and belieue it for it is a certaine truth consisteth not in tendernesse of deuotion but in a francke offer and resolution of our will to doe that which God and his Church commaundeth and to endure that which his pleasure is that we should suffer for his coÌtentment Yf some who may seeme to haue left their pleasures of the world for the seruice of God did leaue also the inordinate desyre of sweet and sensible deuotions of the soule they would liue with more alacrity then now they haue and the Diuell should not be able to fynd certayne (d) We must take care that the Diuell haue no hold to take vs by haires of appetite to take hold of and thereby to turne their heads about and to deceyue hurt them Christ Iesus died naked vpon the Crosse and naked we should offer our selues to him And we should care for no other cloths then the doing of his holy will as it is declared to vs by the commaundments of himselfe and of his Church and to receiue with an (c) Pray for this blessing for it is a great one amorous kind of obedience that which he shal be pleased to send how hard soeuer it be with equality of mind we are to take from his hand eyther affliction or consolation and to giue him thankes both for the one and the other S. Paul (f) Ephesâ 5. saith That in all thinges we are to giue thankes to God because as it is the marke of a good Christian to loue one that doth him hurt for the loue of God since euery one loues him that doth him good so to be (g) 5. Note thankfull to God in aduersity not regarding the rough exteriour that it carrieth but the hidden fauour which God doth send vs vnder that superscription is the signe of a man who beareth other eyes in his head then of flesh and bloud and that he loueth God since in that which is painefull to him he doth yet conforme himselfe to Gods will And (h) A soueraigne receit against all miseries of mans life both interiour and exteriour so we must not seeke to fasten our selues to the weake boughes of our owne desyres though they may seeme good but to the strong pillar of the diuine will to the end that obeying it as hath bin sayd we may participate according to our possibility of that peacefull rest and immutability which resideth in that Will and that we may decline those many changes which in our hart we shal be sure to find if it giue accesse to this kind of (i) Of spirituall gust couetousnesse There is in very deed little difference betweene seruing Christ for money or els for consolation and spirituall gust of thy soule whether for heauen or for earth if the last marke that I ayme at be this couetousnesse Euen Lucifer according to the opinion of many Doctours did desyre true felicity but because he desired it not as he ought and of whom he ought that it might be giuen him when it should haue pleased God it serued not his turne to haue desyred that which was good but he sinned by not desyring it well for so it came to be couetousnesse no good desyre In the same manner therefore do I declare that we must not fasten our selues to an earnest and disordered appetite of spiritual gustes but offering our selues to the Crosse of our Lord we must be glad to take what he shal be pleased to giue whether it be sweete hony or vinegar and gall Nor (k) Note haue I yet sayd this as if these gustes were euill or vnprofitable of themselues if men know how to make true vse thereof and if they receiue them not as to dwell in them but to procure more breath and hart in the seruice of God especially for beginners who ordinarily according to their age haue need of milke like children And (l) How great a blessing it is to meet with a guyde who hath the guift of spirituall prudence he that would nurse them with the food that is fit for men and seeke by that meanes to make them perfect vpon a suddaine should commit a great errour and insteed of helping would do hurt Euery age hath a seuerall condition and degree of strength according to which the food and nourishment is to be applied And as the well experienced and holy Bernard sayth We must not fly but walke forward in the way of perfection and let no man thinke that it is the same thing to vnderstand it and to possesse it And therefore it our Lord impart these comfortes let them be receiued towards the carrying of his Crosse with greater force For as much as it is his custome to comfort his disciples in Mount Thabor that so they may not be disquieted in the persecution of the Crosse And ordinarily before the gall of tribulation come vpon vs he sendeth the hony of comfort And I neuer knew any man mislike or vndervalow spirituall Consolations but such an one as by whose soule they had neuer passed But if our Lord be pleased to guide vs by the way of discomforte and that we must needes heare the harsh and (m) Of dâabohâal tentatâos and disolations paynefull language wherof we were speaking yet must we not be dismayed at any thing that he sendeth but with patience we must drinke the Chalice which the Father giues euen because he giueth it and we must beg strength of him that our weakenesse may yielde obedience thereunto Nor yet on the other side must thou conceaue that I teach thee not to haue ioy when our Lord doth visit or not to haue a sad feeling of his absence when we find our selues deliuered ouer to our enemies to be tempted or afflicted by them But that which I would say is this that according to the force which God shall giue vs we must procure to conforme our selues to his holy will with obedience and equality of mind and in no case to follow our owne which infallibly wil be accompanied with discomfort and disconfidence such things as these Let (n) We ought to carry a most cordiall and profound loue to the accomplishment of the holy aââe will of God in all things vs beseech our Lord that he will open our eyes for then we shal more cleerly see then now we do the very light of the sun that
all thinges of the earth yea and of heauen it selfe are but very poore and vnworthy of being desyred or enioyed if from them we seuer the will of our Lord. And that there is no one thing how little soeuer or how bitter soeuer it be otherwise which if it be ioyned to the will of our Lord is not of extreame valew Better it is without comparison to be in affliction if our Lord require it then abstracting from his will to be in heauen And if once we did banish from our selues this secret couetousnes with resolution there would fall of withall many euill fruites which grow from thence and we should gather others in place thereof of more worth namely ioy and peace which vse to be deriued from the vnion of a soule with the will of God And so firme they would be withall that tribulation it selfe would not be able to take them from vs. For as much as although such persons do find themselues afflicted and forsaken yet are they not in despayre no nor greately troubled as knowing that to be the way of the Crosse to which they haue offered themselues and by which Christ did walke as it appeared when being vpon the Crosse he sayd to his Father O (o) Matt. 17. my God Why hast thou forsaken me But shortly after he sayd Into thy hands O Father I commend my spirit Our Lord had also sayd already Againe (p) Ioan. 10. Will I see you and your hart shall reioyce and no man shall take this ioy from you For if a man enioy this condition there is no tribulation which there in the most inward part of his soule doth much disquiet him because there within he is close vnited to the will of him that sendeth it If thus we would carry our selues we should deceaue the deceauer which is the diuell For as much as by not being dismayed nor retyring from our good course begun notwithstanding the euill language he speaketh but on the other syde taking that which our Lord doth send with obedience and giuing of thankes we depart without any hurt out of this skirmish although it should last as long as we liue Yea we come to greater profit then we had before since it gaue vs occasion to gaine more crownes in heauen in reward of that conformity which we had to the will of our Lord without respecting our owne euen in that which was very painefull to vs. CHAP. XXVII That the conquest of these temptations doth consist more in hauing patience to beare them and in the hope of the fauour of our Lord then inprocuring forcibly that they may not come THE conquest whereof we haue spoken proceedeth more from the stratageme of hauing patience at that which commeth vpon vs then in the force which we can vse in procuring that it may not come And for this did the spouse say in the Canticles Catch me those little foxes which spoyle our vineyards for our vine hath sâorished The vineyard of Christ is our soule which was planted by his hand and watered by his bloud It doth flourish when the tyme of sterility being past it beginneth to lead a new life and yealdeth fruite to him that planted it But because in such beginnings both these and other temptations of the crafty Diuell do lye in waite for vs therefore doth the noble spouse admonish vs that since our soule which is his vineyard is in flower we should procure to hunt those foxes out By which word it is giuen vs to vnderstaÌd that it must be done in the (a) Because the flowers come before the fruits morning as hath bin sayd By saying that they were foxes we are as good as told that they come disguised to deceaue vs seeming to byte on the onesyde they wound on the other and in saying that they are little he telleth vs that they are not so much to be feared by him that knoweth them for the knowing theÌ is to weaken theÌ if not to ouercome them out right In saying that they destroy the vines he signifyeth that they doe men much mischiefe who know them not For being frighted and not confiding to goe through with their businesse in the sight of God they leaue their way and following a lamentable perswasion they giue themselues openly to sinne conceauing that they enioy more peace in the broad way of perditioÌ then by the strayte one of vertue which leadeth to life The end of such persons if they returne not first to the right way many tymes is such as that it carrieth most certayne tokens of eternall perdition as the Scripture sayth He (b) Eccl. ãâã that passeth from iustice to sinne God hath prepared him for the instrument of iustice that is for hell They (c) Note should consider that as the Gabaonites were besieged and persecuted by their enemies for hauing made peace with (d) Iosue 10. Iosue and that Iosue being called vpon by them to giue them succour did relieue and free them making their case his owne because they were persecuted by their enemies in regard of the peace they made with him so they who beginning to serue God do enroll themselues in his band grow instantly to be persecuted by the Diuells which they were not before and this doth euidently appeaâe to be so because by forsaking the party of Christ the persecution which is made against them would cease and if they continue to suffer they suffer for holding vp the party of Christ Now this is a most particuler fauour which God doth as S. Paul (e) Phil. 1. affirmeth To you it is giuen by Christ not only to belieue in him but also to suffer for him And if the Angels of heauen were capable of enuying earthly creatures (f) The great nobility of suffering for the loue of God and for his will it would be for this that they suffer for God And although by the word of God a Crowne is promised to that man who suffereth (g) lac 1. temptations is prooued by them which reward it shal be fit for vs to consider and desyre thereby to get more spirit that we be neither tepide in working nor weake in suffering as it is sayd both of Moyses and of Dauid also that they had an eye to the reward yet the true and perfect louer of our Crucifyed Lord doth so much esteeme a being in conformity with him that he receiueth euen the very suffering it selfe as a great fauour and reward for as Saint Augustine saith A happy iniury is that wherof God is the cause And since there is not a man who will not succour another that suffereth by comming to his seruice much more may this be expected from that diuine goodnesse And that he will make that mans cause his owne as Dauid thus desyred that he would Rise vp o Lord and iudge thy cause remember the iniurious words with the foole hath vttered against thee all the day longe That businesse
procure to be so not only by belieuing the promises in generall nor yet by belieuing that in particuler they are applied to him but by pennance also other meanes which are taught by the Catholike Church Not but that we do neuerthelesse assuredly belieue that many in the same Church are in the state of grace to whom without all doubt God fulfilleth the promises of being their defendour who hope in him but yet for as much as no man can be infallibly sure without speciall reuelation that himselfe is in that state of grace he is to belieue by the Catholike fayth that the diuine assistance is neuer wanting on the part of God but himselfe may and must feare that it will not perhaps take effect in him through his fault or negligence in doing his duty So that with some feare of himselfe and by confidence in our Lord he must procure to encourage and help himselfe by the word of God who promiseth succour to such as fight for him And (i) Note this feare or vncertainty in which God hath left vs of not knowing assuredly that we are in his fauour though it may seeme painefull is very profitable towardes the conseruing of our humility and the not vndervalewing of our neighbours and to spur vs vp towardes good workes And with so much the more caution and consideration must we do it as we are lesse certaine whether we be pleasing to our Lord or no. But do not for all this conceaue that thy hart must be dismayed with vaine feare for as much as this truth which I haue told thee did not keep Dauid from saying If (k) Psalâ 15. whole armies shall rise against me yet shall not my hart be afraid if warre shal come vpon me yet wil I hope in God So also doth S. Paul (l) Heb. 13. admonish vs that we should serue our selues of those wordes which God sayd I will not forsake thee I will not abandon thee in such sort as that we may confidently say Our Lord is my helper and I will not feare what man can do These and the like wordes do not wholy take away all the feare which a Christian for his owne part ought to haue but it taketh away all excesse thereof by the confidence which is to be placed in God And thus we are to walke between hope and feare and so much more as the loue increaseth so much doth the hope also increase and so much also is feare diminished And (m) An excellent rule therefore if thou haue a mind to feele in thy selfe that courage of mind and the little feare which perfect men do find cast thou away al tepidity from thy selfe take the businesse of vertue to hart and then in that very hart of thyne thou shalt read that courage which now thou readest but in Bookes Then shalt thou be able to fight boldly against the Diuell although he circle theâ round about to deuoure thee for thou shalt haue a hope to be defended by Iesus Christ who is the strong Lyon of Iuda He alwayes ouercommeth in vs if we do not loose our confidence and if like cowards we do not deliuer vp our selues with our hands bound behind vs to our enemies without resoluing to fight Our Lord doth not suffer these warrs and temptations to come to his friendes but for their greater good as it is written Blessed (n) laâ 1. is the man who suffereth temptation for he being so proued shall receaue the crowne of life which God promiseth to such as loue him He was pleased also that patience in troubles and the standing fast on foot for his honour in tentations should be the touchstone whereby his friends were to be tryed For (o) Note it is no signe of a true friend if he only accompany another in occasions of case but to stand fast by him in tyme of tribulation And as all men would be glad to haue approued friends to stand fast by them in the tyme of affliction and triall accounting of it as their owne iust so doth God desire to haue his and like a thankfull person he sayth to them You are the men who haue remayned with me in my temptations And as an aboundant rewarder he sayth further to them I (p) Lue ââ dispose of my kingdome to you as my Father disposed of it to me that you may eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome companions heere in payne and afterwards in the Kingdome of glory Thou must encourage thy selfe to fight manfully in the warrs which are made against thee to deuide thee from God since he is thy helper on earth and thy reward in heauen Remember how S. Anthony being cruelly vvhipped and beaten by the Diuells lifting vp his eyes to heauen saw the roofe of his Cell all open whereby a beame of so admirable light did enter as at the presence thereof all the Diuells fled away and the payne of his wounds forsooke him with profound internall sighes he sayd to our Lord who then appeared to him Where wert thou O my good Iesus where wert thou when I was so ill handled by the enemies why wert thou not heere in the beginning of my combat that so thou mightest haue preuented or cured all my soares Wherunto our Lord answered Heere I was froÌ the very beginning but I stood looking on to see how thou diddest carry thy self in thy combate And because thou hast fought manfully I wil euer help thee thou shalt be famous throughout the whole earth By these wordes and by the vertue of our Lord he rose vp so full of courage as to find by experience that he had gotten then more strength then he had lost before In (q) A most comfortable and true doctrine this sort doth our Lord treat his friends and he leaueth them oftentimes in traunces of so great danger as that they scarce know where to set a foot nor do they find one hayre of strength by which they can take hold nor are they able to help themselues by the memory of those fauours which in former tymes they had receaued of God but they remayne as if they were naked and in profound darcknes being giuen ouer to the persecution of their enemyes But suddainly when they least looke for it our Lord doth visite them and deliuer them and leaue them with more strength then they had before thrusteth those enemies vnder their feet And the soule howsoeuer it be more weake in nature then the Diuell doth feele in it selfe such a powerfull strength that it seemeth to teare him euen in pieces as a thing that is but weake and without resistance and not only groweth it not able to fight against one but against many Diuells so great is the courage which it feeleth to haue comfreshly towards it from heauen and wherewith it doth not only defend it selfe but it sayth with Dauid I will persecute my enemies and I will take them I will
not returne till they be conquered and deseated that they may no more remaine vpon their feet but they shall fall vnder mine What is there of greater profit then that which S. Augustine beggeth when he sayth O Lord make me know thee with an (r) Yea his prayer was heard amourous knowledge and let me also know my selfe Now (f) The excellent vse fruit of teÌptations desolations what meanes is there so proper for the making him know himselfe as to see himselfe experimentally in such traunces That he may touch as a man may say with his owne hands his owne weakenesse and that so very truly as to be wholy vnbeguiled of any estimation which he might make of himselfe And on the otherside he findeth by experience how faythfull God is in fulfilling the promises of his succour in the tyme of necessity and how powerfull he is in deliuering his seruantes from so great weakenesse by the suddaine gift of so admirable strength and how ful he is of mercy in visiting and pittying them who are so extreamely afflicted By this meanes a man doth fall flat vpon his face acknowledging his pouerty and misery and he adoreth his God by both louing him and hoping for succour from him when he shall find himselfe in new dangers S. Paul (t) Rom. 5. affirmeth that it hapned to himselfe after this manner I will not sayth he haue you ignorant my Brethren of the tribulation that we suffered in Asia whereby we were afflicted aboue measure and aboue our owne strength so (u) We must not be deiected in being much afflicted since S. Paul himselfe was discomforted farre as that euen to liue was a trouble to vs and we did within our selues belieue assuredly that there was no meanes for vs to escape from death And this hapneth so to the end that we might not haue confidence in our selues but in God who giueth life to the dead He who hath deliuered vs out of so great dangers and by whom hereafter we also hope to be deliuered CHAP. XXX Of many reasons which there are why we must hope that our Lord will deliuer vs out of all tribulation how greiuous soeuer it be and of two significations which this worde Belieue may be accounted to haue It is true which S. Gregory sayth That the accomplishment of thinges past giueth assurance concerning things to come And since men are wont to trust others vpon taking pawnes we seeme not to do much for God if we hope for a deliuerance out of future tribulation since he hath so often done it in tymes past It (a) A liuely comparison wherin we ought to take much comfort is certayne that if any man should haue made vs find his loue and fauour in succouring vs ten or twelue seuerall times in our troubles we should belieue he loued vs and that still he would do vs fauour if in other afflictions of ours we should haue need And why then shall we not haue a confident beliefe that God will defend vs in all our dangers since they are not twelue but many more tymes that we haue taken experience of his succour in our tribulations Remember well how often he hath drawen thee with victory out of those sharpe skirmishes of thyne against thy aduersaries and thou wert gratefull vnto him for it and thereupon thou didst conceaue a reason to belieue and confide that he loued thee since after the tempest he sent fayre weather and ioy after teares and since he had byn thy true Father and defendour And why then if now he please to try thy confidence thy loue and thy patience by a present tribulation as if he hid himselfe because he answereth not to thy cryes dost thou let thy selfe fall into such weakenesse as that the present triall which commeth to thee maketh thee loose the confidence which in many former proofes thou hadst gained It is true that we feele those things most which at the present lye vpon vs and if thou markest the straytes wherin thou findest thy selfe and how our Lord doth not free thee of them thou wilt perhaps conceaue that our Lord hath layd aside the care which formerly he had of thee and thou wilt say as the Apostles did in that great sea-tempest to our Lord who then was sleeping Maister (b) Marc 4. doest thou not care though we perish and thus wilt thou be ouertaken by the reprehension of that scripture which sayth The foole changeth like the moone Because it is sometymes after one manner and sometymes after another And thou wilt be like a Vane vpon the top of a house which is subiect to many changes in one day because it is gouerned by euery wind Thou wert in possession of our Lord as one that was carefull of thee and thy defence in the tyme of trouble because then he breathed vpon thee by the wind of his mercy and comfort wherewith he gaue thee deliuerance and thou didst pay him with thankes And because now there blowes another wind wherewith our Lord is pleased to prooue and trouble thee thou art no longer of that beliefe and confidence which before thou hadst So that thou doest belieue but what thou seest thou dost not valew our Lord but according to that which at the instant tyme he doth towards thee without helping thy selfe of that which thou hast tried at many other tymes that so at the present thou mayst be comforted in our Lord. A strange incredulity was theirs who hauing seene the meruayles of God in Egypt and the victories and fauours which he wrought for them in the desert would not take his word whereby he told them that they should enter into the land of promise For this sayth S. Paul they entred not And so is it true though not according to equality yet with some resemblance that the disconfidence and pusillanimity of that man is great who notwithstanding that God hath deliuered him many tymes froÌ dangers past groweth not yet to confide that he shall not be abandoned nor confounded in the danger eyther present or future since as we haue sayd the hope which one putteth in our Lord if the man be not infault wil neuer faile nor wil there be cause that a man should say I was deceaued Now it is to be vnderstood that sometymes this word (c) Note Belieue is taken for that worke which the vnderstanding performeth by setling it selfe in the truthes of the Catholike fayth with a supreme kind of certitude as formerly hath been sayd And he that belieueth against this fayth is called with a full mouth and is indeed an Heretike and an incredulous person and such an errour belieued hath the name of an heresy or of incredulity But the disconfident person of whome we haue spoken hitherto is neither incredulous nor is he subiect to incredulity because he hath no obligation to belieue in quality of an article of fayth that God will deliuer him out of that present trouble
as yet they of the (d) The children of Israel desert were obliged to belieue that God would giue them victory against those enemyes who were in the Land of promise if they would haue gone out to fight against them But at other tymes holy men and euen the common vse of speach doe call Belieuing the holding an opinion which is caused by reason or coniectures This do they call credulity and if it be vehement it is called fayth And this manner of credulity doth he possesse who belieueth by probable coniectures that he is pardoned by God that he is in state of grace and that God will help him in that whereof he shall haue need in the future and this which passeth in the vnderstanding doth help men to haue confidence hope which are in the will And therefore sometymes Incredulity is taken for Disconfidence and credulity for confidence And thus it may be sayd that he who because God had deliuered him out of other dangers and for other motiues also had reason to belieue though not with certainty that God will also deliuer him out of this danger is subiect if he do it not to incredulity not against the Catholike fayth but against that which riseth out of coniecturs But because the (e) The Caluinists were scarce known in this Authours tyme though their case be all one with that of the Lutherans LutheraÌs take one of these wordes for the other we Catholikes must speake distinctly calling fayth and confidence by their proper names declaring how we are to vnderstand either belieuing or being incredulous since (f) A wise proposition and being wel applyed will serue to many good purposes that which at some one tyme may be securely expressed by such words at some other tyme must be auoyded Returning therefore to our purpose thou must five from disconfidence and from being changeable which the (g) Eccles 17. Scripture reprehendeth in the foole who is as the Moone And procure thou to partake of that stability for which the iust man is praysed thus As the Sunne shall he remaine Which signifyeth that he shall be euer after the same manner Learne (h) Note by one tyme how thou art to carry thy selfe in others and as the Scripture sayth In (i) Eccles 11. the day of thy prosperity forget not that of thy aduersity and in the day of thy aduersity forget not that of thy prosperity That so tempering the prosperity of one with the aduersity of the other thou mayst grow to liue in an (k) A happy state of mind equality And that neither thou mayst be drawn down in the tyme of thy tribulation by the weight of disconfidence and sadhes nor yet grow giddy-headed by excesse of ioy in the tyme of spirituall consolations So do we read of that holy Anna the Mother of of the Prophet (l) 1. Reg. 1. Samuel who after hauing prayed in the Temple of God still kept her face the same way The meaning is that she conserued her hart in equality Isaias (m) Isa 4. sayth That one should haue such a habitation as might giue shade against the heate of the Sunne and security or defence against the storm and the raine And it were well that thou didst procure to liue in this (n) Happynes is euer in this house house that so hauing strength of hart and confiding in the mercy of God it might giue thee assurance in those places and passages of busines wherein there vseth to be (o) Of trouble danger As it was prophesied of the tyme of the new Law That (p) Ezech. 34. men should sleep securely in the thickest woodes And although it seem a strang thing to be at rest and to haue security in this place of our exile and indeed it must be very little in comparison of that which is in heauen yet if we ranke it by those feares which the vvicked of the world are subiect to it is very great and deserueth greatly to be esteemed And particulerly S. Paul (q) Heb. 6. sayth that the vertue of hope is as a firme and secure anchor of the soule Because although we haue an enemy of the Diuell who hath a mind to fright to discomfort vs by meanes of these combats we haue yet withall a friend who is both more stoute and more wise then he And if the former do abhorre vs much incomparably more doth Christ loue vs and if he sleepe not endeauouring still how to do vs mischiefe the blessed eyes of God do watch ouer vs to help vs to saue our selues as sheepe for which he gaue his pretious bloud Since (r) Note then we haue the arme of the Omnipotent why shall we feare the Diuell vvhose power is meere weakenes in comparison of the other How shall he be able to feare the Diuell who doth cordially belieue this truth if he vvill serue himselfe of fayth as vvas sayd before that the diuells can do vs no manner of harme vnles first they haue leaue from God Could the diuels peraduenture touch Iob or any thing that was his or could they drowne the swine of the Genesarits without first obtayning leaue Or shall he perhâps who may not touch the swyne touch the children Do you therefore comfort your selues in our Lord as S. Paul requireth in the power of his vertue take in hand the weapons of God that you may standon foot against the craâty enterprises of the diuel And hauing spoken of some of the particuler weapons he addeth saying In all things take to you the shield of faith whereby you may quench all those dartes that burne likeââre For as this enemy is of more strength then we so we must helpe our selues by the shield of faith which is a supernatural remedy defending our selues with some what that belongeth thereunto as with some worde of God or by receauing the Sacramentes or following some instructioÌ of the Church And beheuing firmely with the vnderstanding that al power is of God We must also be comforted with the head piece of hope so being offered vp to God by the loue of him taking with a good wil whatsoeuer he shall send and by which way soeuer it come we shal make a scorne of our enemy and we shall adore our Lord who gaue vs the victory against him and that not only by himselfe but by meanes of the succour of his holy Angells who fight for vs as was declared to the seruant of the Great (s) 4. Reg. 6. Elizaeus who being in much (t) An example to proue the assistance that we haue by the holy Angellâ feare of a great army of men who came to take his maister the Prophet bad him not feare for fayth he there are more for vs then against vs. And whilst I lizaus prayed and sayd Open thou O Lord the eyes of this young man that he may see God did open his eyes and he saw that there was a
hill full of horsemen and chariots round about Elizaeus who were the Angells of our Lord who came to defend the Prophet In such sort that if we will take the part of God we shal haue a multitude of Angells on our syde one of which number is able to do more for vs then all the powers of hell against vs. Therefore so great assistance should make vs able to despise the diuell and to lay all vaine feare aside and to giue vs the courage of âions âgainst him in the vertue of Christ Who (u) The sweet and stronge power of our Lord Iesus was a meeke Lambe in deliuering himselfe to death was a Lion in dis-peopling hell ouercomming and binding the diuells and with his arme defending his beloued flock And if any man shall thinke that I haue been to prolixe in this argument let him attribute it to the desyre I haue that thou maiest not be one of the many whom I haue seene who for feare of the Diuell haue giuen ouer the seruice of God I well know that by this enemy some other warres are made euen more cruell then the aforesayd And I also know that in the very extremity of tribulation when already there is growne to be no strength in him that suffers nor wise knowledge in him that guides the shipp and when the infernall Lion and Beare meanes to swallow vp the poore sheep it growes to be comforted and that pitious Dauid Iesus Christ taketh the sheep without harme out of the mouth of the Lion cutting in pieces him that was carrying it away My selfe am a witnesse of greater tribulations then I could possibly haue belieued if I had not seene them and of the meruailous and pitious prouidence of God who doth not in afflictioÌ abandon them that seeke him although it be with many frailties and faultes And (x) Note this for thy comfort although I haue seene many of them who feared God to haue byn grieuously assaulted in these fightes I neuer saw one that ended ill And therefore whosoeuer shall find himselfe in these traunces although he seeme conueyed euen into the very belly of the whale let him cal euen from thence vpon Iesus Christ and let him serue himselfe of the good aduise which his Ghostly Father shall giue him And let both of them haue good hope in that good sheephard who gaue his life for his sheep who killeth and quickneth who placeth men as it were in hell and draweth them out aliue from thence For although at one tyme he send troubles at another tyme he taketh them away and that to the great aduantage of him that suffereth the tribulation CHAP. XXXI That the first thing which we are to heare is diuine Truth by meanes of Faith which is the beginning of all spirituall life and which teacheth vs so high things as that they exceed all humane discourse ALL that hitheâto is sayd hath byn to giue thee to vnderstand whom thou art not to âeare and to help thee to these directions which thou hast read It remaineth that now I tell thee whom thou art to heare that so thou mayst fulfill the first word which the prophet speaketh Hearken O Daughter And know that he who deserueth to be hearkned to is only Truth But because there are many Truths the hearing or knowing whereof doth make little to our purpose I tell thee since heere we are to speake of the (a) Note well that when the Authour throughout his whole discourse of Fayth doth speake of Christianity or Christiâs he meaneth only such as beleeue professe the holy Catholikâ Aposâolik Roman Fayth as appeareth elswhere aboundantly especially Cap. 4â Catholike faith which by vs Christians is imbraced that thou art to heare and learne that which God speaketh in his holy Scripture and in his Catholike Church This faith is the beginning of a spirituall life and therefore as I sayd before it is with much reason that we are first admonished by the prophet of that which first it is fit for vs to do since S. Paul (b) Rom. 10. affirmeth That faith comes by hearing This fayth is the first reuerence whereby the soule adoreth her creatour belieuing most highly of him as is fit to be belieued of God For although some things of God may be ariued to by reason which S. Paul (c) Roââ 1. doth call The manifest of God yet the Mysteries which faith belieuedâ cannot be reached out-right by reason Therefore we say that faith belieueth that which it seeth not and doth firmely adore that which lieth hid from reason And this is giuen vs to be vnderstood by the two Seraphims which couered the face of that great Lord in the Temple which Isaias (d) Isa 6. saw and so also when Moyses came neere to treat with our Lord vpon the mountayne the (e) Ixod â4 Scripture sayth That he entred into the obscurity or cloude where our Lord was A strang thing it may seeme that God should place his dwelling in darknes since he is most pure and perfect light which endureth no darknesse as S. Iohn (f) 1. Ioââ 1. saith But because he is a light so very bright and so ouershining that as S. Paul (g) 1. Tim. â doth witnesse he dwelleth in light which is ineccessible he is sayd to dwell in (h) The true reason why we cannot arriue to see God darknesses because no eye created eyther of man or angelâ can arriue to his mysteries by the force of reason And (i) Note for this cause in regard of such eyes the light is called darknes Not because such light is obscure but for that it is a light which doth infinitly exceed all vnderstanding As when we see that a wheele doth moue with extremity of speed we vse to say that it stirreth not And we speake in this manner because our eyes are not able to hold pace with so swift a motion not because there is indeed any want of motion but for that it doth outstrip the ability of our sight Not only doth our Fayth reuerence God by beleeuing that which reason cannot reach but besides it doth professe him to be so high that howsoeuer God be clearely seene by his owne light in heauen there is yet no vnderstanding either humane or Angelicall which of him can see all that is to be seene No will no delight although they al should be ioyned in one are able to loue him or enioy him as much as there is reason in him both of loue and ioy Only (k) God only truly vnderstandeth God God is he that comprehendeth himself and creaturs when they haue seene and loued and enioyed and praysed him withall the powers of their hart they do reuerence him also by knowing further that in comparison of that which he is and of that vvhich remayneth to be sayd of him and of that seruice which is his due all that which they know of him and which they do for him
is very little And therefore falling vpon their faces they adore him vvith a profound silence confessing that he only is his own perfect prayse to which they are not able to reach And this silence is an honour very fit for God for it is a confession that such prayse is due to him as cannot be expressed by all the creatures Of this honour Dauid (l) Psal â4 sayth To thee O God is prayse due in Sion In such sort that although in heauen there be an incessant voyce of diuine (m) Isa 6. prayse saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hoastes with other admirable prayses which day and night they yeild to him yet do they also confesse in silence that our Lord is greater then they can either expresse or vnderstand For (n) Psal 17. he mounted aboue the Cherubim and he flew vpon the winges of the wind and there is none how speedy soeuer that must thinke to ouertake him And all they who shall know see him must be faine to say that which the children of Israel sayd when they saw bread comming from heauen Man-hu which signifieth what is this Admiring as the Queen of Saba did that infinite abysâus of light whereof although they shall see in heauen much more then they heard therof on earth yet can they not comprehend it all Such is the God whome vve haue and such doth our Fayth teach him to be singing that which Dauid (o) Psal â0 sayth The heauen of the heauen is for our Lord because the secret of what he is after the aforesayd manner is for himself alone since he only comprehendeth himself CHAP. XXXII How agreable to reason it is to belieue the Mysteries of our Fayth although they exceed all humane reason ALTHOVGH thou hast heard that our Fayth belieueth certayne thinges which by reason alone cannot be arriued to yet take heed thou do not thinke that to belieue them is a thing either against reason or without reason For as it is very (a) For if he could it would not be fayth but knowledg farre from him that belieueth euidently to vnderstaÌd that which he beleeueth so is it farre from the beliefe of a Christian to be light or to wauer in belieuing For we haue such reasons to belieue as that we may dare to appeare and giue account of our Fayth before any Tribunall how exact soeuer as (b) 1. Pet â 5. S. Peter doth aduise that we Christians should be prepared to do This thou shalt easily vnderstand by the similitude which heere I put If thou shouldst heare say that a man borne blind had suddenly recouered his sight or that a dead man were restored to life it is plaine that thy reason could not reach to the meanes of doing this because it would exceed the boundes of nature and reason doth not reach to supernaturall thinges But yet so (c) Note this well for it iustifyeth Catholike giueth ProtestaÌts reason to be both more pious and more prudent many and so well conditioned witnesses might auow the hauing seene it that not only it would be no leuity to belieue it but it would be incredulity and hardnes of hart not to beleeue it For though reason cannot reach to know how a blind man may come to see or a dead man return to liue yet at least it reacheth to this That it is reason to belieue such and so many witnesses And (d) Obserue well these gradations for they are most reasonable and they are all in fauour of Catholiques if they should dye in confirmation of that which they affirmed there would be more reason to belieue it And if they should worke other miracles as great or greater then the former in confirmation thereof the fault of not belieuing it would then be great howsoeuer the thing which they affirmed to haue happened were very strange and high Iust so art thou to vnderstand that there is nothing which reason can lesse reach vnto theÌ the cleare vnderstanding of that which is belieued by Fayth nor is there yet any thing so agreable to reason as to belieue it and it is an extreme fault not to belieue it It is certayne that for the true miracles which Moyses wrought the people of Israel belieued him to be the messenger of God and that he spake with God and receaued the law at his handes as giuen by God And so also the Mââves who are a bestiall kind of people belieued that Mahomet for a few and they false miracles which he wrought was a messenger of God and as from such an one they râceaued the bestiall law which he gaue them Well then do thou consider the true miracles which haue byn wrought by Iesus Christ our Lord and by his Apostles and by other holy men in confirmation of our faith from that tyme to this and thou shalt find that as easily thou mayst count the sandes of the sea as the multitudes of them and that incomparably they do exceed al the others which haue byn wrought in the world both in quality quantity Three only dead persons were raised to life in the whol course of the old law which continued almost two thousand yeares And if thou consider the new law thou shalt find that S. Andrew alone did raise at once forty dead that so it might be fulfilled which our Lord sayd He (e) Ioan ãâã 14. that belieueth in me shall do greater things then I. And that so his great power may be seene since not only by himselfe but in such other of his seruants as he is pleased to worke he can do what he will though it be nouer so wonderfull I haue related to thee that which one Apostle did at one tyme to the end that hereby thou mayest vnderstand the innumerable miracles which haue byn wrought both by that Apostle and by other both Apostles Saintes of the Christian Church And although in the beginning of the Church there were so many and so great miracles wrought for the confirmation of our faith that the proofe thereof is superabundant yet (f) That true miracles are wrought to this day and the causes why it pleaseth God to worke them so great is the desire which our Lord hath of the saluation of vs all and that we all may come to the knowledge of his truth and that they who do already know it may be comforted and confirmed therein that his prouidence hath care to renew or refresh (g) Of miracles which confirme the faith of Christ this kind of proofe and to giue testimony to the truth by new miracles And so is there hardly to be found an age wherein some Christian or other is not canonized for a Saint which (h) I would to God that any reasonable ProtestaÌt would but informe himselfe well of the exact and rigorous care which the Catholike Church doth we when there is question of Canonizing any Saint is neuer done without sufficient proofe of a
But as god is far from being a deceauer so in this are we far from being deceaued Glory be to God for euer CHAP. XLIII That such is the greatnesse of our Fayth that none of the aforesayd motiues nor any other that can be deliuered are sufficient to make a man belieue with this diuine Fayth vnles our Lord doe incline a man to belieue by particular fauour HITHERTO thou hast heard some of the reasons which may incline a man to find that the Catholike Fayth is true to satisfy any man that should charge vs as if we were light in belieuing since we haue more âotiues then any Nation of the world But with all this assure thy selfe that so great is the height of the Christian Fayth that although a man should haue both these and other motiues which might be thought of and although amongst the rest he shold haue also this other to see miracles wroght in confirmation of the Fayth with his owne eyes of flesh yet (a) Faith is the gift of God alone such a man shall not be able by his owne strength to belieue as a Christian must and as God commandeth him to belieue For the teaching hereof dependeth vpon an interiour Maister infusing Fayth into the vnderstanding whereby a man is taught and fortified towards this beliefe as Christ sayth That it is written in the (b) Isa 54. Prophets That (c) Ioan. 6. all shal be taught by God And the same Lord which S Peter had confessed for the true sonne of God and for the Messias promised in the law gaue him to vnderstand that he was not to thanke himselfe but to acknowledge that Fayth and confession as the guift of God and he sayd Plessed (d) Mat. 16. art thou Simon the sonne of Ionas for flesh and bloud hath not reuealed these thinges to thee but my Father which is in heauen And in another place he sayth All (e) Ioan. 6. they who heare and learne of my Father come to me A soueraigne Schoole is this where God the Father is he that teacheth and the doctrine which is taught is the Fayth of Iesus Christ his sonne and in that we are to walke by the paces of Fayth and Loue. This Fayth must not wholy rest vpon whatsoeuer motiues or reasons that may be brought for whosoeuer belieueth only vpon them doth not belieue in such sort as that his vnderstanding is so persuaded as to admit no place for doubt or scruple But the faith which God infuseth doth rest vpon the diuine Truth and maketh one belieue more firmely then if he saw it with his very eyes and touched it with his very hands and with greater certainty then That foure are more then three or the like which the vnderstanding seeth things with so great clarity as to haue no difficulty therein nor ability to doubt thereof though it would Then doth a man say to all the motiues which induced him to belieue as they of Samaria sayd to that Samaritan woman No longer now do we belieue for that which thou saydst for our selues haue seene and known that this is the Sauiour of the world But (f) Note although they say we haue knowne yet do not thou vnderstaÌd that they who belieue haue that kind of clarity of euideÌce which the Philosophers cal Science For as before hath been expressed neither can the vnderstanding arriue by the reason thereof to haue clarity in thinges of Fayth nor can fayth haue euidence for so it should not be fayth nor would there be any merit in it It is true that fayth is sayd to be a kind of sight and that it is in the vnderstanding but because it is not with this clarity of euidence S. Paul sayth That we now see as by a glasse but heereafter we shall see in heauen face to face But the Samaritans say that they know Christ to be the Sauiour of the world to giue vs to vnderstaÌd That they belieue it with so great firmenes as that which they do most clearly know yea and much more then so For according to what we haue sayd he that imbraceth the fayth being infused by God belieueth it because it is affirmed by the Truth of God And (g) The reason of the infallibility of Fayth the great extent thereof now because this Truth is infinit and more certaine then all other Truths since by the participation thereof all other thinges receaue their strength of truth such a belieuer is so assured that he cannot be deceaued in what he belieueth as he is sure that God cannot faile to be true which certainty is the greatest of all others whatsoeuer And this maketh a man remayne so full of satisfactioÌ in this kind that there passeth not so much as a thought in his mind against this fayth or if any passe it passeth on so quickely as that it putteth him to little paine And if he be combatted by scruples or vayne thoughtes yet is he full of repose and quietnes in the interiour part of his vnderstanding for his beliefe is built vpon fine and firme stone which is Truth it selfe which he belieueth for the very Truth and not vpon other motiues Therfore can neither winds nor waters nor riuers driue it downe And if thou meruaile that in the vnderstanding of a man who is so various and changeable in his opinions who with so little firmenesse doth settle himselfe vpon the ground of reason there is yet in him so great a certainty and such a setled firme constancy that neither by meanes of argument or torment or example of others that loose their fayth nor for any thing either high or low he can be made to stirre from his beliefe I say that euen this may make thee know That this busines and this building is no effect of our force which cannot reach so farre A guift of God it is as S. Paul sayth which can neither be inherited nor merited not purchased by humane strength that no man may glory to haue it of himselfe but let them be faythfull in knowing that it is the fauour of God and giuen vs for his Sonne Christ Iesus sake as S. Peter sayth You were made faythfull by him Do not therfore meruaile that vpon the miserable sand of mans vnderstaÌding so firme a building is erected For our Lord affirmeth thus It is the worke of God that you belieue in him whome he hath sent So that as God conducteth man to a supernaturall end which is to see him clearely in heauen so was he not content that man should belieue in him as meerely a man by the force of motiues miracles and other reasons But raysing him vp aboue himselfe and giuing him supernaturall force wherewith to belieue not with doubt scruple as a meere man would do but with certainty security as becommeth the Mysteryes of God And heereby we vnderstand That no man can call vpon Christ Iesus but in the Holy Ghost For
of this Church And although in these tymes of ours there be departed from her a certayne race of people full of (c) Heresy is both the Mother and the companion and the daughter of Pride pryde and who for that very pryde were fit to be deceaued by the diuell yet the Church doth not for this giue ouer to be what shee was nor must we leaue to belieue that which formerly we belieued And therefore against this Church let no reuelation moue thee nor inward feeling of spirit nor any other thing eyther greater or lesse although it might seeme to be an Angell from heauen which should go against it I say although it should seeme for to be so indeed it is not possible Much lesse art thou to be moued by the doctrine of heretikes whether they be past or present or to come who being forsaken by the hand of God through his iust iudgment do follow a false light insteed of a true and destroying themselues they are the cause of perdition to as many as follow them Obserue what end they haue had who in former tymes haue departed from the beliefe of this Church and how they haue resembled the blustring of a wind which quickly passed and soone after was forgotten And consider how this Church hath remained victorious And although euen since the infancy therof it haue byn assaulted yet neuer hath it byn conquered because it was grounded vpon a firme rocke against which neither the raine nor the wind nor the riuers nor the very gates of hell can preuaile Shut therefore thyne eares against all doctrine which is contrary to this Church and follow that beliefe which hath byn receiued and kept for such a multitude of yeares since it is certaine that an infinite number of men haue byn not only saued therein but haue heere byn Saintes For my part I cannot reflect vpon a greater folly then for a man to leaue a way by which so many persons so wise and so holy went to heauen to follow certaine other folkes who are incomparably inferiour to the former in euery thing that is good In pryde indeed and impudence they are superiour for they will needs be better belieued without any other proofe but of their owne opinion then a multitude of our forefathers who were indued with diuine wisedome and who lead a most excellent life and who wrought a multitude of great miracles Whereas their chiefe whom these deceaued creatures follow was a certaine (d) A strang fellow to make the reformer of Gods Church Luther a man so weake in the point of his flesh that he was not able to liue without a woman nor shee being dead could he liue then in chastity but (e) According to Luthers doctrine he must either do that or worse for he sayth it was not possible for a man to liue withoâââ woman was faine as the report goes to take a second though many others haue contented themselues with one and others agayne without any at al that so they might with greater liberty purity attend to the contemplation of God How then shall we call that a good spirit which liued in that wicked man since it had not force to giue him a chastity euen of the most vulgar streine whereas yet he had made a promise of it after the highest manner which many men did so possesse whom it had byn fit for him to follow as his betters And since our Lord hath sayd that by the fruites we should know the tree it must haue byn a spirit of earth and of infirmity of flesh and of the diuell which dwelt in that man since he yealded such fruites as these and worse then these Stay a whyle thou shalt see the end of these wicked persons and how God will vomit them out to their extreame reproach declaring the errour of them by some manifest punishment as he hath done with their predecessours CHAP. XLVII What a terrible chastisement it is when God permitteth men to loose their Faith and that it is iustly taken away from them that worke not in conformity of what it teacheth HE that could haue light to iudge that the true blessinges or miseries of a man are the spirituall would quickly discerne the seuere chastisement of God vpon that kind of (a) Heretiques people yea so great chastisement as that only hell is worse then it Who (b) Iârem 20. Psal 39. will not feare thee O thou King of the Nations or who hath knowne the power of thy wrath or who shal be able to recount it through the great feare which is to be had thereof The greatest chastisements of God which are most to be feared are not the losse of goods or of reputation or of life but for God to suffer the will of man to be hardned in sin or to permit his vnderstanding to be blinded in errour especially in matters of Fayth these be the wounds which are inflicted by that celestial indignation they are not the corrections of a father but of a iust and rigorous iudge Of these it is with much reason vnderstood which God sayth in (c) Iârem 30. Ierâây With the wound of an enemy with rigârous chastisemenâ I haue wounded thee Though indeed he vseth not this rigour of a iudge till first he haue imployed the mercy of a Father And if thou marke it well the blindnes of the Vnderstanding hath this particuler mischiefe belonging to it more then hath the hardnesse of the will that (d) Let Heretikes consider the sad case they are in this latter though it be a great one is capable of more hope to meete with remedyes For as long as a mans Fayth remaineth though it be dead yet stil he knoweth that there is help in the Church towards the cure of his sinne which is a great step towards his recouering and rising But he that looseth his Fayth how shall he seeke it or where shall he find it since it is not to be found out of the Church because it is no where els and that which is in the Church he will not seeke because he belieueth it not and so he remayneth in ruine This is a word which God speaketh in Israel whosoeuer shall heare it his very cares shall tingle againe with meere seare But so great a punishment is not inflicted without great cause which S. Paul (e) Rom. ââ declareth thus The wrath of God discouereth it selfe from the heauens downeward vpon all the wickednes of those men who (f) A place of Scripture excellently pondered detayned the wrath of God in iniustice And the intent of the Apostle in that place is this That there were men who although they knew God did not serue him as God but rather did puffe themselues vp with a blind kind of pride and hauing Truth in their vnderstanding they wrought iniquity with their will So that the truth of God was detayned or imprisoned in them since they did
not performe that which it aduised but that which their owne peruerse will suggested And because the Truth of God is a most excellent thing he bestoweth it as a great fauour to the end that a man practising it with affection may honour it and obtaine vertue by it and so be saued and if he consider not âeerof and do entertaine it in such a fashion as that he neither practiseth those things which it teacheth nor doth lodge it in so faire a place as it deserueth he doth thereby great dishonour to God that gaue it and to the Truth it selfe which was giuen by him And if it had a tongue wherewith to speake it would with a loud voyee demaund iustice against such a man For as much as it being so precious a Iewell and which is able so much to enrich men it is detayned without hearing what it sayth and without doing what it requireth and it is quartered out in the stincking company of sinne wher with the will of such a man aboundes And so in such sort as it is able it doth like the bloud of Abell cry out demanding vengeance Because although such an one depriueth not Truth of life because true fayth is compatible with a life that is wicked yet doth he depriue it of that efficacy which it would haue in working if insteed of hindring he did assist it towardes the performance of those thinges which it teacheth These cryes are heard by God for it is he that sayth The seruant who knoweth the will of his maister and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes Amongst which the very greatest which he giueth in this world is to permit as we haue âayd before that in punishment of his sinnés he fall into errour of beliefe And so were those others punished by being suffered to fall into such blind Idolatry as that they came to worship for God euen birdes and serpents and other beasts And because they robbed God of that honour which was due to him as God and gaue it to such as it belonged not to God redoubled vpon them the punishment of this sinne of Idolatry by suffering them to fall into such other filthy sinnes as breed horrour to thinke of them and shame to name them And although such as are afflicted with this punishment of infidelity without doubt wil fall into other sinnes yet is that fall of theirs into those later sinnes as free as that whereby they fel into the former through their owne will Which yet how many soeuer they be either of one kind or of the other the mercy of God is not shut vp against them if they dispose themselues to retyre into the bowells of his pitty The power of God is manifested in the first of these his wisedome in the second and his goodnes and mercy in the third Now by the (g) The iust iudgments of God both against Iewes Gentilles same reason whereby the soueraigne Iudge did punish the proud Gentills he did also punish the vngratefull Iewes that vpon great cause Because he gaue more knowlege to them then to the Gentills wherof they serued themselues so il as that with infidelity they denyed the very true life it sâlfe which is Christ Iesus and they crucified him by the hands of the Gentills And because they had a mind to extinguish that soueraigne light without which there is no light nor Truth they remayned in obscure darknes and they will remayne in eternall perdition vnles they be conuerted to the seruice of our Lord whome they denyed But now let vs see what the motiue was which drew them on to so great a misery as to vnbelieue that light which stood there before their eyes S. Iohn (h) Ioan. 3. makes the answere thus Men loued darknesse more then light because their works were euill euery one that worketh euill abhorreth the light So that because our Lord his doctrine did addresse them to all vertue truth they loued falsehood and lyes they could not endure to heare or see him nor did they wish that there had by many light of doctrine in the world which might be able to discouer that counterfait sanctity which they professed Or that there should be any example of perfect life in comparison whereof their owne might be condemned for wicked And from this root of a will which was so depraued did grow that bitter fruit of denying and murthering that heauenly Phisitian who came to cure them And they found themselues to be such as the Prophet (i) Psal â8 vers 24. Dauid had painted out long before when he sayd thus of them Let their eyes be obscured that they may not see and let their back go euer bending downeward for their eyes haue remayned without the light of fayth and their will hath been all imployed vpon thinges of the earth CHAP. XLVIII Wherein the former discourse is more particulerly prosecuted and it is declared what dispositions are requisite for the beginning to read and vnderstand the diuine Scriptures the holy Doctours BVT now if God did take into so zealous care the honour of that knowledge which he gaue the Gentills that which he also gaue the Iewes how much will he haue zeale of that which he giueth Christians since incomparably this is more then that which eyther of the other did enioy And (a) God inflicteth grieuous punishments vpon such as liue not according to the true fayth which they haue receaued since men do serue themselues very ill of the knowledge of this so excellent Fayth it is not to be meruayled at if sometymes God strike such persons by suffering them with a great chastisement to fall vpon heresies as he suffered those of former tymes Can it be sayd perhaps that we see not that accomplished with our owne eyes which S. Paul did prophesy of the latter tymes saying That God would send the operation of errour to certayne men that they might belieue a lye and this lye is against Fayth For no man can be ignorant of the miserable and great efficacy wherewith so much people hath cordially imbraced the Lutheran heresy so that we see plainely how God (b) Do not willfully mistake the Scripture or this authour but marke well that which instantly followeth hath sent this efficacy of errour for the belieuing of a lye as S. Paul sayth Not that God doth send these things by inciting men to belieue a lye or to worke any wickednesse For he is not the tempter of the wicked as S. Iames the Apostle (c) Iac. 1. sayth But he is sayd to send the operation of errour wheÌ by his iust iudgment he (d) Note suffereth the vnderstanding of men to be deceaued by false discourses or by false miracles which either some man or the peruerse Diuell may worke and withall they find in themselues such force towards the belieuing of that lye as to thinke themselues mooued to the beliefe of it
it is cleerlynaught against the Scripture and the Church of God That light therefore of the Holy Ghost which is called Discretion of spirits is wholy necessary in this case by the inward and sweet light wherof the man who hath this gift doth rightly iudge which is the spirit of Truth and which of Errour And if the matter be of importance it must be related to the Prelate and his resolution is to be followed CHAP. LII Wherein some signes are giuen of good and bad or false Reuelations or Illusions BESIDES that which I haue sayd thou art to consider what fruit or edification these thinges do leaue in thy soule And (a) This ballance is to be held by a steedy hand yet I say not this as if by these or other signes thou art to become the iudge of that which passeth in thy selfe but to the end that when thou giuest him account of whome thou art to take counsell he may so much the more certainly know teach thee truth as thou shalt giue him more particuler information Consider therefore if these things help thee towardes the reliefe of any spirituall necessity which thou hast or for any thing concerning thy soule of notable edification For if a good man will not speake idle wordes much lesse will God do it who sayth I am the Lord who teach thee things which are profitable to be known and who gouerne thee in the way where thou art to goe But when thou seest that there is nothing of moment but intricate and vnnecessary thinges esteeme it as a fruit which the Diuel setteth before such a one as he seeketh to deceaue and to make him loose his tyme and the tyme of others to whome he relateth it and when the Diuell can get no more he contenteth himselfe with this gaine Amongst those thinges which thou art to consider whether they worke them in thy soule or no let the chiefe be this Whether it leaue thee more humble then thou wert before For humility as a Doctour sayth giueth such weight to the coyne of spirit as that it doth sufficiently distinguish the mettall which is massy from that which is light And S. Gregory sayth The (b) In what case then be all Heretikâ most euident distinctiue signe of a man elect is his humility and of the reprobate his pride Consider then I say what trace is left in thy soule by this vision or consolation or spiritual gust and if thou perceaue thy selfe to remaine more humble and in more confusion through thyne owne faults and with greater reuerence and trembling vnder the infinite greatnesse of God and hast no light inclination to communicate that to other persons which hath happened to thee nor doest busy thy selfe much in considering or making account thereof but doest procure to forget it as a thing which may make thee esteeme thy selfe and if at any tyme when it commeth to thy memory thou humble thy selfe and dostâwonder at the great mercy of God in shewing so great fauour to so base creatures if thou findest thy hart as quiet and more settled then it was before in the knowledge of it selfe it hath some shew to be of God because (c) Note this reasoÌ it is agreable to the instruction and doctrine of Christ which is That a man should abase himselfe and become despicable in his owne eyes and that for the blessings which he receaueth from God he must know himselfe to be more obliged and confounded giuing the whole glory of it to God from whose hand all good thinges proceed And with this S. Gregory agreeth saying The soule which is full of diuine vnderstanding hath these for most euident fignes namely Humility and Truth both which if they perfectly ioyne in any soule it is a thing notorious that they giue testimony of the presence of the Holy Ghost But when it is an abuse of the Diuel it falleth out very contrary to this For (d) Humility or Pride are the distinctiue signes wherby to know the truth or falsh god of spirituall gustes c. either in the beginning or at the end of the reuelation of consolation the soule doth find it selfe vayne and desirous to speake of what it feeleth with some estimation of it selfe conceauing that God is to do great matters in it or by it and it hath no desire to thinke vpon the defects of it selfe or to be reproued by others but all that persons busines is to be talking and rowling vp and downe in his mind that which he hath felt and he would be gladd that others also should be talking of it When thou shalt see these signes or the like which shew a kind of leuity of hart it may be affirmed without any doubt that the euill spirit walketh that way And how good soeuer the thing appeare though it bring teares or comfort or knowledge of matters belonging to God yea although thou be hoysed vp to the third heauen yet if thy soule withall do not remaine with profound humility put thou no confidence in any such thing which may happen to thee nor do thou accept thereof For how much the more high it is so much is it the more dangerous and so much the greater fall will it giue thee Aske grace of God that thou mayst know humble thy selfe and that being the ground let him giue thee what is most pleasing to him but if that be wanting all the rest how precious soeuer it appeare is not gold but copper nor is it the meale or floure of nourishment but the ashes of pryde Pride hath this mischeife belonging to it that it despoyleth the soule of the true grace of God and if it leaue any thing that may seeme good it is but counterfaite so it is not acceptable to God but the occasion of greater ruine to him that hath it We read of our Redeemer that when he appeared to his disciples vpon the day of the Ascension he first reprehended their incredulity hardnesse of hart after that he commaunded them to go preach giuing theÌ power to worke many and great miracles Making vs vnderst and thereby that (e) God doth first abase such as afterward he meanes to rayse whom he rayseth to great matters he first abaseth in themselues giuing them knowledge of their own weakenesse to the end that although afterward they grow to fly aboue the heauens they may still be fastned to their owne basenes without attributing any other thing to themselues but their own vnworthinesse Let therefore the summe of all be this that thou do well obserue the effects which are caused in thee by such things as these not thereby to make thy selfe the iudge thereof but for his information whose counsell thou art to aske and follow CHAP. LIII Of the secret pride whereby many vse to be much deceiued in the way of Vertue and of the danger that such are in to be snared by the illusions of the Diuell
such a one and thou being once addressed put thy hart into his hand with great security hide nothing from him whether it be good or bad Not the good to the end that he may addresse it and aduise thee and not the euill to the end that he may reforme it And do not any thing of importance without his opinion placing coÌfidence in God who is a friend to obedience that he will put into the hart and tongue of that guide of thyne the thing which shal be fit for thy saluation By this meanes thou shalt fly from those two euills and extreames The one Of them that say I haue no need of mans counsayle God teacheth me and satisfieth me The other Of them who are so subiect to some man without considering any other thing but that he is a man as that the malediction layeth hold on him which sayth (f) Ierem. 17. Cursed be the man that confides in man But (g) The true middle way that is to be walked in do thou submit thy selfe to a man thou shalt haue escaped the former and do not confide in the knowledge or force of that man but in God who will speake to thee and strengthen thee by meanes of a man and so thou shalt haue declined the later danger And be thou well assured that how much soeuer thou seeke thou shalt neuer find any other way so straight or so secure for the knowing the will of our Lord as this of humble obedience which is so much adâââed to by all his Saints and so much practised by many of them as we find by the testimony of the liues of the holy (h) He meaneth chiefesly such as liued in that desert Fathers Amongst whom it was held for a great signe of a mans approaching towards perfection if he subiected himselfe much to the old man that was to gouerne him And amongst the many good things wherwith Religious Orders do abound thou wilt hardly find any other so good as that all of them liue vnder a Superiour whom they are to obey not only in exteriour actions but interiourly also in the opinion and iudgement Who if they haue confidence and do carry deuotion to the vertue of Obedience they shall lead a life both very safe and very sweet CHAP. LVI Wherein he beginneth to declare the second word of the verse and how we are to consider of the Scriptures and how we must restrayne the sight of our eyes that we may the better see with those of our soule which the freer they are from the sight of creatures the better shall they see God IF thou haue wel considered the words which already I haue spoken thou wilt haue seene how necessary it is to Heare that so thou maist please our Lord God Now hearken to the second word which is See It is not inough to be attentiue to the externall word of God or yet to the internall inspirations which are signified by hearing but it is also necessary to keep the eye cleare that it may see For the blind who do not see the light are no lesse reprehended by Christ then the deafe who do not heare the Truth But do not thinke when he aduiseth thee to see that he inuiteth thee to see sportes or entertainments of the world for that (a) A most necessary thing it is to haue the eyes well mortified kind of seing what is it else but a kind of blinding since it blocketh vp the sight of the soule It is inough for the eyes of the body if they behold the earth into which they must returne and if they cast themselues vp to heauen where the desire of their hart is lodged according to that of (b) Psal 8. Dauid I will behold the heauen that worke of thy hands the moone and the starres which thou hast framed And yet if thou haue a mind to looke vpon other creatures I haue nothing to say against it vpon this condition that such a sight may passe from them to God and that it be not to forget and loose God therby For of such sightes as that Dauid (c) Psal 118. sayd to our Lord O Lord âuert myne eyes that they may not looke vpon vanity and quicken me in thy way This wise King knew well that inordinate looking is an impediment to speedy running the Carriere of God and vseth to make the burning hart of man grow coole and therfore it is that he sayth Quicken me in thy way For it is plaine to men of experience that how much more retired these exteriour eyes vse to be so much more clearely do men see with their interiour eyes And this sight is both more cheerfull and more profitable And it is but reason that a Christian man should easily belieue thing since we read of some Philosophers who did put out the eyes of their body that they might haue the eyes of their vnderstanding more recollected to contemplatioÌ Wherin we are to discard their errour in thrusting out their eyes yet we may serue our selues of their good intention by recollecting them and we are withall care to keep a guard vpon theÌ least such miseryes happen to vs as by dissolutenes of this kind are wont to rise From (d) Note how the immortification of the eyes was the occasion of the first great sin of Adam and Eue. whence doest thou thinke that the beginning of the perdition of the world proceeded I assure thee it came from one disordered sight Eue beheld the forbidden tree grew into an appetite of eating the fruit as seeming to her full of beauty and gust She did eate and she made her husband eate thereof and that bitt was death both for them and all their posterity There is no discretion to behould that which it is not lawfull to desire as is plaine by Dauid the holy King whose eyes tooke pleasure in looking vpon a woman as she was bathing in her garden and he grew to haue reason thereby to weep dayes and nights and to bathe his owne bed Royall couch with tears in so great aboundance that his eyes were as if they had been moath-eaten with much weeping And he that sayth Myne eyes haue powred out euen floudes of tears because the wicked haue not kept thy law had done better to haue shed them because himselfe did not keep it Good counsaile had it beene for his eyes not to haue taken gust in that which cost him afterwards so deare And so it will also be good for vs sinners since we are so loose of the feare as that where the eyes go before the hart with speed goeth after Let (e) Note well this whole discourse vs therefore put a vayle betweene vs and euery creature not fastning our sight wholy vpon any of them least being there taken vp we loose the sight of our Creatour That is those deuout considerations which we had of him And do thou belieue for certaine that one of the
most assured signes of a retyred and recollected hart is the mortification of the sight and of a dissolute hart if the sight be dissolute There is no pulse which so assuredly declares the disposition of the body as the eye expresseth the inclination of the soule either to good or euill And therefore the Spouse doth prayse the eyes of his fellow Spouse by saying That (f) 1. Cant. 5. her eyes were as of the Doue giuing vs to vnderstand that they were chast as they of the Doue are which vse to be blacke Let vs therfore see wel how we see vnlesse we haue a mind to pay that by lamenting which we haue sinned in by looking And if this care must be had in the exteriour eyes how much more must it be had in those of the mind wherein chiefly the seeing well or ill consisteth and whereby it is best iudged whether a man haue eyes or no. No man doubtes but that the Pharisees to whome Christ Iesus our Lord was speaking had eyes in their heades wherewith they saw but because their soule had no eyes he calleth them blind and guides of the blind For as S. Antony sayd to a blind man called Dydimus who was full of wise knowledge of holy Scripture Thou hast no reason to be troubled for the want of corporall eyes which cats and dogges and other inferiour liuing creatures haue since the eyes of thy soule are cleare wherewith God is seene Of this sight therefore art thou to vnderstand that whereof thou art admonished in the second word see If thou wilt performe it thou hast eyes which are thy vnderstanding and this was giuen vs for the sight of God Do (g) Consider and auoyd those obiects which are so hurtful to our sight not fill it with the dust of the earth and transitory honour do not stop it vp with the grosse humours of sensuall thoughts but shaking of such poore thinges as these which fill the sight preserue thy vnderstanding cleare that so it may be imployed vpon him that gaue it and who demaundes it of thee againe that so he may make thee happy by it Do (h) This may be good counsayle for all Christians according to our seuerall vocations though chiefly it be heere meant for such as are in state of virginity not thinke it to haue been in vayne that Christ hath freed thee from worldly busines was pleased that thou shouldest not enter into the troubles and incommodityes of a marryed life the cares whereof vse to trouble their sight who are subiect to them if our Lord do not impart a very speciall grace in the strength whereof they may comply with both obligations But thee our Lord hath freed to the end that thou mightest be wholy his and that thyne eyes might cast themselues vpon him alone as the chast Spouse should only looke vpon him whose Spouse she is CHAP. LVII That the first thing which a man must see is himselfe of the necessity which we haue of this knowledge and the inconueniences that grow vpon vs through want thereof THOV (a) Heere beginneth a most excellent and most profitable discourse of the knowledg of ones selfe It is made at large and deserueth to be well considered shalt therefore hold this order in looking that first thou looke vpon thy selfe and then vpon God and afterward vpon thy Neighbours Looke vpon thy selfe that so thou mayst know thy selfe and haue thy selfe in small account For there is not a worse kind of deceit then to be deceaued in one selfe and to esteeme himselfe for other then indeed he is A piece of durt thou art for as much as coÌcerneth thy body and a sinner thou art for as much as concernes thy soule and if thou esteeme thy selfe to be more then this thou art blind And the spouse will say to thee If thou dost not know thy selfe O thou who art fayre amongst women go out and looke after the footsteps of thy heardes and feed thy kiddes by those cottages or tents of the sheepheardes This place I will declare to thee according to the Greeke letter and the vulgar edition which the Councell of Trent directeth vs to follow (b) The same place of holy Scripture may haue diuers meanings and all of them true as S. Augustin doth proue at large lib. 11. Confes in many places although the Hebrew letter do carry another sense They say therefore according to the opinion of S. Gregory S. Bernard and Origen after this manner There is nothing so much to be trembled at as to heare it sayd by the mouth of God Go out and see For if the saddest word that a Father can say to a sonne or a husband to a wife whome he kept in great honour and aboundance is to separate her from his estate and protection by saying Go thy wayes from me and from my house what kind of thing shall it be for the soule to depart from God but to be banished from all happynes and to fall into all miseryes Whither shall we go sayd S. Peter to Christ for thou hast the wordes of eternall life Whither shall we go for thou hast the fountayne of life and thou only hast it Whither shall we go O thou sweet and cheerfull light without which all is darknes Whither shall we go O thou bread of life without which all is deadly hunger Whither shall we go O thou most strong defence without whome euen security it selfe is but danger In fine whither shall that sheep go which is all enuironed with wolues if the sheepheard do forsake it and cast it off ãâã (c) It is so he that doth not thinke so doth not thinke of it as he ought sadd word it is Go out and see and like that which Christ hath to say to the wicked at the last day Go you cursed into the fire that is prepared for you I say yet once againe that there is not a thing which ought to mak a man tremble more or labour more for the auoyding of it if he be in the plentifull and cheerefull house of God and in the hand of his most strong protection then to heare these words Go out and see This going out is no trifle but the cause of all mischiefe For that man who is made destitute of diuine help and left to his own strength what will he do as sayth S. Austine but that which S. Peter did when he denyed Christ And that without knowing or repenting himselfe of the euill which he had done till the diuine countenance and fauour of Christ did shine vpon him who by falling into sinne had forgotten him giuing knowledge to S. Peter of the misery into which he had cast himselfe and giuing him griefe for the same letting him see that the cause of his fall was his hauing confided in himselfe So that the reason why our mercifull Lord groweth so rigorous in turning his children out of dores is because they do not know
holy places good works for so it is fittest for young folks Do not plunge thy selfe into transitory cares when thou hast done working som what with thy hands which being moderately vsed will do thee good both in soule and body hauing complyed with thy obligations either of necessity or Charity according to that rule of life which hath been prescribed to thee take as much tyme as thou canst to be shut vp in thyne Oratory And although at the first it may chance to go against thy stomake thou wilt come to find that they are the affaires of heauen which are treated there and that thou takest not so much gust in the expence of any tyme as that which thou spendest there in peace CHAP. LIX Wherein he prosecuteth the exercise which conduceth to the knowledge of ones selfe and how we are to profit in the vse of reading and of Prayer HAVING then found out this priuate place retire thy selfe into it twice euery day at the least Once in the morning to thinke vpon the sacred passion of Iesus Christ our Lord as I will shew thee afterward and once againe in the euening at the shutting vp of the day to attend to the exercise of knowing thy selfe and let thy way to that be this Take first some booke of good instruction wherein as in a glasse thou mayest see thy faultes and that thy soule may therewithall receiue such food (a) A most excellent aduise how spirituall books are to be read with great profit of the soule as to be encouraged in the way of God This reading must not be vsed with any trouble nor by turning ouer many leaues but with raising vp the hart to our Lord to beseech him that he will speake to it with his liuing and powerfull voyce by meanes of those words which there thou readest And that he wil giue thee the true vnderstanding thereof and with this attention and reuerence obserue and hearken to God by those wordes which thou readest as if thou heardest himselfe preach when he spake heere in the world In such sort that although thyne eyes be cast vpon the booke do not thou fasten thy selfe to it with so great an anxiety of mind as to make thee not so well to thinke of God but conserue a moderate and peacefull attention which may not enthrall thee nor hinder the free and superiour kind of attention which thou art to yeald vnto our Lord and reading thus thou wilt not grow weary By this meanes our Lord will giue thee the liuing sense of the wordes which in thy soule may worke sometimes repentance of thy sinns at other times a confidence in him and his pardon of them and he will open thy vnderstanding towards the knowledge of many other thinges although thou read not many lines Sometymes it wil be fit to interrupt thy reading to thinke of somewhat which resulteth from thence and then to returne againe to read and so at once thou shalt profit both in reading and prayer And with a hart thus deuout and recollected thou mayest beginne to enter vpon the exercise Of the knowing of thy selfe then vpon thy knees thou shalt thinke to what an excellent and soueraigne maiesty thou art going to speak Which yet (b) How we are to thinke vpon God when we go to pray thou must not conceaue to be farre from thee but that he filleth heauen and earth that there is nothing wherein he is not and that he is more within thee then thou thy selfe And considering thyne owne poorenes make thou a profound internall reuerence humbling thy hart as if it were a kind of Ant in the presence of an infinite Essence and desire that thou mayst haue leaue to speake Begin first to speake ill of thy selfe and make thy confession in generall and particulerly also if it occure to thee demand pardon of that wherein thou mayst haue offended him that day Resort then to some of those (c) Some few vocal prayers wherein moderation is to be vsed deuotions to which thou art accustomed but let theÌ not be so many as that they may breake thy braynes dry vp thy deuotion nor yet do thou leaue them altogeather because they serue to stir vp the soule to piety and for the offering also of that seruice of our tongue to God in token that he gaue it to vs. For this reason S. Paul teacheth vs That we must pray and sing with the spirit both of the voyce and of the soule And these prayers must serue to obtaine fauours of our Lord not only for thy self but for them to whom thou hast particuler obligation and for the whole Church of Christ the care whereof thou art to haue deeply fixed in thy hart For if thou loue Christ it is reason that thou be neerely touched by that for which he shed his bloud Pray as well for them that liue as for the soules that are in Purgatory and for all that infidelity which is depriued of the knowledge of God beseeching him to bring al vnbeleeuers to his holy Fayth since he desireth that they should all be saued And these prayers or the most of them are to be addressed two wayes By the one to our (d) Our B. Lady must be deuoutly prayed to by vs as a great intercessour with her Sonne our Lord for the pardon of our sins but especially Christ Iesus our Lord who is the only hope of our saluation Blessed Lady towardes whome thou must be sure to carry a very cordiall loue and to haue entiere confidence that she will be a true mother to thee in all thy necessityes and the other to Christ Iesus our Lord which also must be a most familiar refuge in thy troubles and the only hope of thy saluation CHAP. LX. How much the Meditation of death doth profit towardes the knowledge of a mans selfe and of the manner how it is to be meditated for as much as concerneth the death of the body AFTER (a) If this Chapter and the two next do not mooue thee I know not what will this giue ouer to pray vocally and conuaye thy selfe into the most inward part of thy hart and make account that thou art appearing in the presence of Christ Iesus and that there are no more in the world but thou he Consider that before thou camest into the world thou wert nothing and how that Omnipotent goodnes of our Lord God drew thee out of that profound bottome of not being and made thee his creature and that not after an ordinary manner but he made thee a reasonable creature Consider how he gaue thee a body and a soule to the end that with them both thou mightest labour in doing seruice to him Make account that thou art then in the very passage out of life into death and hauing the most true feeling of it that may be say to thy selfe This houre of my end is once to arriue and I know not whether
excellent lesson coÌcerning the strict examinatioÌ of our coÌscience as it were into the chapter-house with thy selfe towardes night and iudge thy selfe very particulerly as thou wouldest do any third person Reprehend thy selfe and punish thy selfe for thy faultes and preach thou more to thy selfe then to any other body how much so euer thou loue him and where thou findest most fault there procure to apply most remedy For belieue me that by the continuance of this examen and reprehension of thy selfe thy thoughts cannot continue long without being reformed And thou shalt ariue to a science which will doe thee much good and it will make thee weepe not swell and it will keep thee from that dangerous infirmity of pride which entreth euen insensibly by little and little a man thinking well and taking contentement in himselfe Be very watchful against the approach there of and preserue thy selfe with all care Take not thy selfe into good conceite but know by the light of truth how to reprehend be displeasing to thy selfe and so the mercy of God wil be neere thee in whose right they only are pleasing who are displeasing in their owne And he pardoneth their faultes with a great liberality of goodnesse who know them and who humble themselues for them with (d) But it must be a true one a true iudgement and who lament them by their will Thou shalt also hereby decline two other vices which are the ordinary companions of pride and they are ingratitude sloth For by knowing and misliking thy defects thou wilt see thy weakenesse and thy vnworthynesse and the great mercy of God in suffering pardoning thee in bestowing benedictions vpon thee who hast deserued misery and by this meanes thou wilt be gratefull And on the other side considering the little good thou doest the many sinnes which thou committest thou wilt be awaked out of the sleepe of slouth and wilt euery day begin with new feruour to serue our Lord seing the little that thou hast done hitherto For this and many other benefittes which grow from a mans knowing and reproouing himselfe a holy old man of ancient tymes being asked whether a man might be more secure by seruing God in solitude or in company of others did answeare That is he knew how to reprehend himselfe he might be euery where safe and if not that he would be euery where in daÌger And because through the inordinate loue which we beare our selues we cannot know or reprehend our selues with that vnpartiall iudgement which truth requires we must (e) A hard lesson but by the goodnes and grace of our Lord Ieâââ it is learâed practised by ãâã in the Catholike Church thanke that person that doth it for vs. And we must earnestly beseech our Lord that himselfe will rebuke vs with loue bestowing vpon vs light and truth that so we may belieue of our selues as we ought in very deed to belieue And this is that which the prophet (f) Ierem. 10. Ieremy desired saying Correct me o Lord in iudgement and not in sury least otherwise thou do turne me into nothing To correct with fury doth belong to the last day when God will send the wicked to hell for their synnes and to correct in iudgement is to reprehend his children in this world with the loue of a Father Which reprehension carrieth a great testimony with it that God loueth such a person Nor is there any other so sure an one as that nor which bringeth so good newes as being the preface to vs of our receiuing great fauours from God So doth S. Marke relate that our Lord Iesus Christ appearing to his disciples did (g) Mare 10. reprehend them of incredulity and hardnesse of hart and then he after gaue them power to doe wonderfull thinges And the prophet (h) Isa 4. Isay sayth That our Lord doth wash away the vncleanes of the daughters of Sion and the bloud out of the middle of Hierusalem in the spirit of iudgement and in the spirit of heate Giuing vs so to vnderstand that for our Lord to wash way our faultes by comming to vs is first to make vs know who we are and this is iudgement And afterward he sendeth in a spirit of heate which is loue and that prouoketh vs to griefe and so he washeth vs giuing vs pardon by his grace Of this we must not presume to allow our selues any part of the glory since it is he who first gaue vs to vnderstand our owne wickednesse and rashnesse Nor (i) A description of that true âorrow for sinne which is of God yet art thou to conceaue that this reprehension is any afflictiue kind of thing which may excessiuely oppresse thy soule by making it offensiue to thee For any such disposition as this is eyther of the Diuell or of a mans owne spirit and it must be fled But it is a quiet knowledge of a mans owne faultes and as a iudgâment of heauen which is pronounced in the soule which makes this earth of our infirmity quake with shame and feare and loue which clappe spurres into the sides to make it mende to serue our Lord with greater diligence Yea it giues a man much confidence that our Lord loueth him as his sonne since he exerciseth the office of a Father with him as it is written And (k) Prou. 3. whom he loueth he correcteth Be therefore carefull to behold and reprehend and to present thy selfe in the presence of God before whom an humble acknowledgement of our owne faultes is a matter of more security then the proude altitude of any other science And be not like some who loue to haue themselues in good estimation who because they are loth to thinke ill of themselues they take pleasure in spending much tyme to thinke of other deuout thinges and to passe lightly ouer the knowledge of their owne defects because they find no sauour in them since they take no pleasure in the contempt of themselues Whereas in very Truth there is nothing so safe nor which so maketh God withdraw his sight from our sinnes as for vs to see and to reprehend them with griefe and pennance As it is written If we did iudge our selues we should not be iudged by God CHAP. LXIII Of the estimation which we are to make of our good works that we may not fayle thereby in the knowledge of our selues and of true Humility and of the meruailous example which Christ our Lord doth giue vs for this purpose THE second thing that thou art to obserue concerning this knowledge is that although it be good and profitable since therby we come to haue a contrite and humbled hart yet hath it this fault that it is euer grounded vpon our hauing committed sinne And it is not to be much meruailed at if a sinner do know and esteeme himselfe to be a sinner For being such he should withal be a hideous monster if he would esteem
a sinner to whom the spirituall being of grace is wanting must be accounted notwithstanding all the greatnesse and riches that he may haue otherwise for nothing in the sight of God S. Paul expresseth this in this manner If I should haue the guift of prophesy and should know all mysteries and all science and should haue all Fayth so far as to remooue mountaines from one place to another and yet withall I should not haue charity I were nothing Which sentence is so highly true as that a sinner is yet worse then nothing because an euill being is worse then a not being And there is no place so base nor so cast out of the way nor so despicable in the eyes of God amongst all the things that are and are not as a man that liueth in offence of him being disinherited of heauen and adiudged to hell And to the end that thou mayst haue somewhat to rouse thee a little vp in the consideration of the miserable staâe of a sinner hearken to this When thou shalt set any thing which is very contrary to reason and much out of order consider that it is a most vgly and abhominable thing to be in the displeasure and emnity of our Lord. Thou hast heard men speake of some huge theft or treason or some other wickednesse which some woman may haue coÌmitted against her husband or of some high irreuerence which a sonne may haue expressed towards his Father or some other crimes of this nature which in the eye of any ignorant person whatsoeuer will instantly appeare to be foule because they are against all reason But thou must know that to offend God by one only sinne is (c) There is no comparison betweene these two a greater deformity in being against the Commandment giuen by him and the reuerence which is due to him then all the wicked actions that can be wrought in consideration that they are against reason only And since (d) A naturall and reasonable addresse thou seeft that al they are so much disesteemed who commit wickednes of that kind do thou esteeme thy selfe for a most contemptible creature and sincke thou downe into that profound pitt of being despised which is due to a person who offeÌdeth God And as for thy knowing that thou wert nothing thou didst call that tyme to mind wherein thou hadst no being so now for the knowing of thy basenes and vilenesse call to mind the tyme when thou didst liue in the offence of God Behold as in wardly as feelingly as profoundly as leasurely as thou canst when in the eyes of God thou wert displeasing and deformed and esteemed nothing and lesse then nothing For neither vnreasonable liuing creatures nor others which haue no life how vgly base soeuer they be haue committed any sinne against our Lord. Nor are they vnder the obligation of eternal fire as thou wert And thus despise thou and abase thy selfe the most deeply aduisedly that thou canst for (e) There is nothing more assuredly true then this thou mayst safely belieue that how much soeuer thou do it thou wilt neuer be able to descend so low into the very abysse of contempt as is deserued by him who is the offendour of an infinite good which is God For (f) Our Lord grant that we may see it there till in heauen thou shalt see how good God is thou wilt not be able out-right to know how wicked sinne is and what misery he deserueth that committeth it But yet when thou hast soundly felt in thy soule and drunke deeply of this disesteem of thy selfe cast vp thyne eyes to God considering his infinite goodnes who drew thee out of such a deep pit which for thee it was impossible to haue done and behold that supreme goodnes which with so great mercy drew thee out whylest thou didst merit nothing towardes it nay when thou didst greatly demerit For till God giue his grace though al that which a man doth be not sinne yet neither doth he nor can he do any thing which may deserue his forgiuenes grace Know that he who drew thee out of darcknesse into his admirable light and made thee of an enemy a friend and of a slaue a child and of a creature that was good for nothing to become acceptable in his sight he I say who did this is God And (g) There is no reason of interest in the loue of God to vs God graunt there be nomotiue of interest in our loue to him the reason why he did it was not any former desert of thyne Nor any regard which he could haue to the seruice which thou mightest do him afterward but it was for his owne only goodnesse and by the merit of our only mediatour Iesus Christ our Lord. For thyne owne thou art to esteeme the vile state wherein thou wert and thou maiest accompt hell to be the place so due to such sinnes as thou didest or wouldst haue committed vnlesse it had byn for God For that which thou hast more then this acknowledge thy selfe to be a debter to him and to his grace Hearken to that which our Lord said to his beloued disciples and in them to vs. You (h) Ioan. 15. chose not me but I you Consider what the Apostle S. Paul (i) Rom. 3â saith You are iustifyed gratis by the grace of God by the redemption which is in Christ Iesus And lodge this in thy hart that as thou hast thy being from God without any reason at all to giue the glory of it to thy selfe so doest thou also hold thy well-being from God and thou hast both the one and the other to his glory And carry in thy tongue and in thy hart that which S. Paul (k) Cor. 19. saith by the grace of God I am that which I am CHAP. LXVI Wherein the aforesaid exercise is prosecuted in particuler manner CONSIDER thou moreouer that as when thou wert nothing thou hadst no power to mooue thy selfe nor to see nor heare nor taste nor vnderstand nor will any thing but God giuing thee a being gaue thee also these faculties and forces so not only is the man being in mortall synne depriued of that being which is acceptable in the sight of God but he is without all power to doe the workes of life which may please him When therfore thou seest some lame man without leggs or armes thinke that so is a man without grace in his soule and if thou see one who is blind or deafe or dumbe take him for a glasse wherein thou mayst behold thy selfe in all those sicke persons who were leapers or paralytikes who had their bodies crookedly bent towards the ground not being able once to looke vp with all that multitude of diseases which they presented in the presence of Iesus Christ our true physitian do thou vnderstanding that wicked men are as much defeated in their spirituall partes as those others were in their corporal And obserue that
as a stone by the weight which ãâã hath worketh downeward so through the corruption (a) That is the ill inclinatioÌ which it leaues behind euen after the remission thereof in Baptisme or original synne which we carry about vs we haue a most ardent inclination to the workes of sense of honour and of profit making idolls of our selues and doing that which we do not for the true loue of God but of our selues Most liuely we are towards the earthly things which concerne vs and all dead towards the taking of any gust in the thinges of God That (b) Because our appetite doth naturally now command our reason exerciseth authority ouer vs which should obey and that obeyeth which should commaund And so miserable we are that vnder the persons and priuiledges of men we harbour the appetites of beastes which lye hidden in vs and our harts are drawne downe towards the earth What shall I say to thee but that in as many weake and dry and deformed and disordered deeds as thou shalt see thou mayst obserue and conclude vpon the corruption and confusion which the man who is without the spirit of God doth carry in his actions and passions And (c) A good lesson as soone as thou behouldest any of them retire presently into thy selfe and ponder that thy selfe is the same thing for as much as concerneth thee if God had not giuen thee help And if thou be (d) Many do thinke that they are recouered who still are sicke indeed recouered thou wilt know that it was only God who opened thy hart to the feeling of him who subdued thy affections to the dominion of reason and who made that distastefull to thee which formerly was delightefull and who gaue thee an appetite to those things which before were so vnsauoury who operateth new workes in thee It was God as S. Paul (e) Philip. ãâã saith It is God who worketh in vs a will and an executing of it through his good will But (f) Take heed of this monstruous and vnmanly arrour and consider this place of Scripture well expounded by this Authour conceaue not vnder colour of this that the free-will of man worketh nothing in good workes for this should be a great ignorance and errour But it is said that God worketh the willing and the finishing because he is the principall operatour in the soule of him that is iustifyed And he it is who moueth and sweetly induceth the free will to worke and cooperate with him as S. Paul (g) â Cor. 3. saith we are the helpers of God who doth procure by inciting and assisting a man that he may freely giue his consent to good workes And therefore doth he worke because by his proper and free will he willeth what he will and he worketh that which he worketh and it is in his power not to do it But God doth worke more principally in producing the good worke and helping the free will that it may concurre to the production therof and the glory both of the one and of the other is only due to God And therefore if thou wilt be sure not to erre be not curious in sifting out the blessings of nature and of thy free will what giftes of grace thou hast for this is fitter for such as are learned but go thou with thyne eyes shut after the direction of sound faith which admonisheth vs to giue the glory of them both to God and that we as of our selues are not sufficicient so much as to thinke one good thought Gonsider that which S. Paul sayth reprehending such an one as shall ascribe any good to himselfe What hast thou which thou hast not receaued and if thou haue receaued it of what doest thou glory as if thou hadst not receaued it As if he had sayd If thou haue the grace of God whereby thou pleasest him and whereby thou performest workes though neuer so excellent do not glory in thy selfe but in God who gaue it And (h) See how all kind of pride is euen in all reason to be for euer plucked vp by the roots if thou wouldest glory in the good vse which thou doest make of thy free-will and in consenting to those good inspirations of God and of his grace yet neither must thou glory in thy selfe for this but in God who wrought it by inciting and mouing thee sweetly and by giuing thee thy very free-will it selfe whereby thou mightest consent freely And (i) Note this excellent gradation if yet thou wouldst fayne glory because when thou couldest resist that good motion and inspiration of God thou didst not do it yet euen of this little thou art not to glory because first that were not so properly to do any thing as to leaue to do it next thou didst owe euen that to God For when he holp thee to consent to good he did incidently assist thee in not resisting it And whatsoeuer good vse thou hast made of thy free-will in that which concerneth thy saluation is all of it the guift of God deriued from (k) For which his holy Name be euer praysed that mercifull predestination whereby he determined to saue thee from all eternity Let therefore all thy glory be in God alone of whom thou holdest all the good thou hast And know that without him thou hast nothing of thyne owne stocke but vanity and impiety and indeed the thing which we call Nothing And in conformity of this there is a glosse vpon that Text of Saint Paul He (l) Galat. â that thinketh himselfe to be somewhat whereas indeed he is nothing doth deceaue himselfe which sayth A man of himselfe is but vanity and sinne and if he be any thing better it is by our Lord God that he is so And agreably to this S. Augustine sayth Thou (m) See how humble the sublime S Augustin is O Light didst open myne eyes thou didst awake me illuminate me and I saw that the whole life of man vpon earth was but tentation and that no good man can glory in thy sight nor is any man so iustifyed that liueth For if he haue any goodnes great or little thy guift it is and that which is ours is but sinne In what then shall any man take glory Shall he peraduenture glory in euill This is no glory but misery Shall he glory then in the good he hath No for it belongeth to another Thyne is the good O Lord the glory must be thyne And agreably to this the same S. Augustine sayth els where O Lord (n) Loue and imitate this incoÌparable Saint our God I confesse my pouerty to thee and to thee be rendred all glory for all the good that I haue done is thyne I confesse according to that which thou hast taught me that I am no other thing then meere vanity A shaddow of death A deep and profound piât An empty and barren soyle which without thy benediction doth bring
forth no other fruit then confusion sinne and death And if in any sort I haue had any good thing I receaued it of thee And whatsoeuer good I haue now the same I hold of thee If at any tyme I stood fast on foot I stood by thee but when I fell I fell of my selfe and for euer should I haue remained fallen into that durt if thou hadst not raysed me and for euer should I haue beene blind if I had not beene illuminated by thee When I was fallen I should neuer haue risen vnles thou hadst reached forth thy hand and after I was once raysed I should instantly haue returned to fall if thou hadst not held me And so thy grace and thy mercy O Lord did euer march before me deliuering me out of all mischiefe sauing me from sinnâs stirring me vp to auoyd such as were present preuenting me in such as were to come and remouing from before my ne eyes those snares of wickednes by diuerting the causes and occasions therof And if thou O Lord hadst not done so there is no sinne in the whole world which I might not haue committed For I know that there is no sinne which hath beene committed by any man in any kind which another man may not commit if that guide retyre himselfe by whome man was made But thou didst procure that I should not do it and thou didst command me that I should abstayne from it and thou didst infuse thy grace that I might belieue thee For thou O Lord didst conduct me towardes thy selfe and didst preserue me for thy selfe and didst giue me grace and light that I might not commit adultery and all other sinne CHAP. LXVII Wherin he prosecuteth the former exercise and of the much light which our Lord is wont to giue by meanes thereof whereby they know the greatnes of God and as it were the Nothing of their littlenes CONSIDER therefore O Virgin these wordes of S. Augustine with attention thou wilt see how farre off thou art to be from ascribing any glory to thy selfe not only of raysing thy selfe from sinne but in determining thy selfe from returning to fall For as I told thee if the hand of God should once retyre it selfe from thee thou wouldest instantly fal backe into that profound pit of being nothing so if God should forbeare to preserue thee thou wouldest returne to those and more grieuous sinnes then those from which he deliuered thee Be therefore humble and gratefull to this Lord of whome thou art at al moments in so great necessity know that thou art depending vpon him and that all thy good is to be deriued from his holy hand as Dauid sayth In thy hand O Lord are my lett es for lettes he calleth the grace of God and the eternall predestination which commeth by the (a) The first grace of God is giuen vpon no other ground then his own meer goodnes goodnes of God and they are graunted to such as to whome he graunteth them And as if he should resume the being which he gaue thee thou wouldst againe be nothing so he retiring his grace from thee thou wouldest returne to be a sinner I speake not this that thou shouldest fall into any deep discouragement or desperation in that thou seest how thou art hanging vpon the handes of God but to the end that with so much the more security thou mayst enioy the good thinges which God hath giuen thee (b) Let this be the hope of any man who by the goodnes of God doth liue lesse sinfully then he was wont mayst haue confidence that through his mercy he will finish that in thee which he hath begunne And that so much the more as thou with greater humility and profound reuerence and holy feare shalt cast thy selfe trembling and prostrate at his feete not relying any way vpon thy selfe but hauing a strong hope in him For this is a great good signe that his infinite goodnesse will not forsake thee according to that which that blessed and (c) The humility of our B. Lady was aboue all the humilities of al pure creatures humble aboue all humble creatures Mary did sing when she said (d) Luc. 1. His mercy is from generation to generation vpon them that feare him And if our Lord be pleased to giue thee this knowledge of thy selfe which thou desirest thou (e) The sweet and sublyme effects of holy humility wilt find coÌming into thy hart a certaine heauenly light and a kind of feeling into thy soule whereby vpon the driuing away of all darckenesse it findeth and knoweth that there is no being nor good nor strength in any thing created but that which the blessed and deare will of God hath bin pleased to giue and conserue And then he knoweth how true that part of the other canticle is The heauens and the earth are full of thy glory For in all that is created he seeth nothing good the glory whereof is not due to God And he vnderstandeth how truly God directed (f) Exod. 3. Moyses that he should say of him to men He that Is hath sent me to you and that also which our Lord said in the (g) Marc. 10. Ghospell There is none good but God alone For as all the being and all the good which thinges haue whether they be of free will or of grace is giuen and preserued by the hand of God such a person will know that God is more to be said to be in them and to worke that which is good in them then they in themselues Not (h) How God worketh in man and how man worketh with vnder God but that they doe also worke but because they worke as second causes being moued by God who is the principall and vniuersall operatour and of whome they hold their power to worke And so looking vpon them he findeth there no hand-fast nor resting place but vpon that infinite Essence which vpholdeth them in comparison wherof they doe all how great soeuer they be appear but as a little needle which is cast into an infinite sea From (i) This is an inestimable iewell but pray hard for it and by the goodnes of God thou maist purchase it this knowledge of God there doth result to the soule which profits by it a profound and loyall reuerence to the superexcellent diuine maiesty which placeth in her such a detestation of atributing any good thing to her selfe or any other creature that she will not so much as once thinke thereof Considering that as the chast Ioseph who though he were sollicited by the wife of his Lord yet would not commit such a treason against him so must not a man rise vp and robbe God of his honour which he resolueth to keep for himselfe as the husband doth his wife according as it is written My glory I will not giue to another And then also growes a man to be so grounded in this truth that although all the world
should exalt him yet would he not exalt himselfe But as a true iust person he depriueth himselfe of that honour which he findeth not to be his owne and he giueth it to our Lord whose it is And in this light he findes that the more high he is the more he hath receaued of God and the more he oweth him and the more poore and base he is in himselfe For (k) This is a most pure and perfect truth he that doth truly grow in other vertues doth so also in humility saying to God Thou must increase in me and I must decrease in my selfe dayly And if euen with al these considerations already meÌtioned thou find not the fruite of the contempt of thy selfe which thou desirest be not yet dismayd thereat But call vpon our Lord with continuance of prayer for he knoweth how and he is accustomed to teach both interiourly and by way of exteriour comparisons the little that all thinges created are to be esteemed And in the meane tyme till this mercy come liue in patience and know thy selfe for proude which is a kind of humility as for one to hold himselfe humble is a kind of pride CHAP. LXVIII Wherein he beginneth to treate of the consideration of Christ our Lord and of the mysteries of his life and death and of the great reason we haue to exercise our selues in this consideration and of the greââ fruites which grow from thence THEY (a) He beginneth heere and continueth till the the 8â Chapter a discourse vpon the meditatioÌ of the sacred Passion of our Lord Iesus as excellently written perhaps as any hath been seene in this age I am sure I neuer saw any that I liked so well who are much exercised in the knowledge of themselues in respect that they are coÌtinually viewing their defects so neer at hand are wont to fall into great sadnes and disconfidence and pusillanimity for which reason it is necessary that they do exercise themselues also in another knowledge which giueth comfort and strength much more then the other gaue discouragement And against this inconuenience there is no other knowledge which may compare with that of Iesus Christ our Lord especially if we consider how he suffered and dyed for vs. This is the cheereful newes which in the new law was preached to all such as are of broken hart and hereby is ministred a kind of Physicke which is more efficacious towards their comfort then they can be discomforted by the woundes and soares of their ownesoules This crucifyed Lord is he who cheereth them vp whom the knowledge of their owne sins afflicteth and he it is that absolueth whome the law condemneth maketh them sonnes of God who were slaues of the Diuell This Lord they must procure to know and they who are subiect to the spirituall debtes which they haue made by finne and they who find straitnes and bitternes of sorrow at their hart when they consider themselues must approach to him and they shal find themselues well therewith as heeretofore others that were afflicted and indebted did resort to Dauid and found help in his society For as we vse to giue counsaile that they who are to passe a riuer should looke vpward or at least out of the water least their heads may els be subiect to some trouble by staring vpon the running streame so whosoeuer shall find himselfe dismaid by the contemplation of his own miseryes if he will cast vp his eyes to Iesus Christ vpon the Crosse he may recouer strength For it was not sayd in vaine My soule was troubled within me and for this reason I remembred thee of the land of Iordan and of the hilles of Hermon of the little hill For the mysteries which Christ did worke in his Baptisme Passion are able to quiet any tempest of distrust which riseth in the hart of man And so it doth both for that reason aforesayd as also because there is no (b) This is the booke of Bookes booke so efficacious towardes the instructing of a man in al kind of vertue nor how hartily sinne ought to be abhorred and vertue loued as the Passion of the Sonne of God And againe because it is an extreme ingratitude to put such an immense benefit of loue into obliuion as that was in Christ to suffer for vs. It is therefore fit for thee after the exercise of the knowledge of thy selfe to imploy thy mind vpon the knowledge of Christ Iesus our Lord. S. Bernard teacheth vs this by saying whosoeuer hath any feeling of Christ doth know how much it belongeth to Christian piety and how necessary it is and what fruit it bringeth to the seruant of God and a seruant of the redemption of Christ to remember with attentioÌ for at least the space of one houre in a day the benefits of the Passion and Redemption of Christ Iesus our Lord to enioy it sweetly in our soules and to settle it faythfully in our memoryes This S. Bernard sayd this he did And besides this thou art to know That God when he was pleased to communicate the riches of his Diuinity to men imbraced the meanes of making himselfe a man that by such basenes and poorenesse he might conforme himselfe to the small capacity of such as were base and poore and by ioyning himselfe to them he might raise them vp to his owne height so that the way by which God hath vsed to communicate his Diuinity to men hath beene by meanes of his sacred Humanity This is that gate by which whosoeuer entreth shall be saued and it is the staire by which we must ascend to heauen For God the Father is pleased to honour the humanity and humility of his only begotten Sonne so far as not to make friendship with any creature who belieueth not in him nor to grant his familiar conuersation but to such as meditate vpon him with much attention Since therefore there is no reason that thou shouldst forbeare to desire so great blessings see (c) If we meane not to be wholy miserable we must become slaues to the PassioÌ of Christ our Lord. that thou make thy selfe a slaue to this sacred Passion For as much as by it thou wert deliuered from the captiuity of thy sinnes from the torments of hell and those other blessings do also come to thee by this Do (d) Note and be ashamed of thy ingratitude not esteeme it a trouble to thinke of that which he through his great loue of thee did thinke no trouble to endure Be thou one of those soules to which the Holy Ghost speaketh in the (e) Cant. 3. Canticles Go forth you daughters of Sion and behold Salomon the King with that garland vpon his head wherewith his Mo ther crowned him in the day of his espousall and in the day of the ioy of his hart In no place of the Holy Scripture is it read that King Salomon was crowned with any crowne or garland by the handes
afflictions most gladly didst thou resolue to suffer them because thereby thou diddest remoue ours Thou art he who saidst to thy beloued (b) Lue. 22. Apostles a little before thy Passion With (c) Note wonder at these wordes desyre haue I desyred to cate this paschall with you before I suffer Thou art he who saidst before (d) Lue. 12. I came into the world that I might bring fyre what do I desyre but that it should burne With a baptisme I am to be baptized and how am I straitned till it be effected This fyre of the loue of thee which thou desyrest may be kindled till it may inflame and burne vs wholy vp and till it transforme vs into thee thou still art blowing by the blessings which by thy life thou bestowedst on vs thou makest it burne by the death which thou enduredst for vs. And who amongst vs is so well natured as that he would haue loued thee vnles thou hadst died for the loue of vs therby to giue vs life who are dead for lacke of louing thee But now who wil be wood so cold and moist as that seeing thee so faire and flourishing a tree wherof whosoeuer doth eate shall liue to be thus kindled vpon the Crosse burnt vp by that fyre of tormentes which they gaue thee and yet more by that loue wherewith thou sufferedst them he will not yet be kindled now at last to loue thee and to do it euen to the death Who wil be so deadly obstinate as to shut himselfe vp against that importunate (e) Our Lord Iesus doth make no other suit to vs but that we will loue him only it must be with true loue request wherein thou didst persist from the tyme that thou wert borne of the wombe of the B. Virgin and that she tooke thee into her armes and layd thee in the maunger till the same handes and armes of hers tooke thee agayne when being dead thou wert taken from the Crosse and wert deliuered ouer to the holy Sepulcher as into another wombe Thou (f) Note didst burne thy selfe that we might not freeze in the cold Thou didst weep that we might reioyce Thou didst suffer that we might repose and thou wert baptized euen by the sheading of thy bloud that we might be washed from our sinnes and yet thou saydst withall O Lord How do I liue in the straitnes of affliction till this Baptisme be accomplished Giuing vs thereby to vnderstand what an imflamed desire thou hadst to giue vs remedy though thou knewest that it would cost thee thy life And as the Spouse desireth the day of his marriage that he may enioy his end so doest thou desire the day of thy Passion to deliuer vs by thy paynes from our miseryes One houre O Lord did seeme to thee a thousand years till thou camest to dye for vs conceauing that thy life would be well imployed if it were laid downe for thy seruantes And because that which is desired doth carry ioy after it when it is accomplished it is no meruaile if the day of thy Passion be called the day of thy ioy since it was so desired by thee And (g) The vast loue of God in Christ our Lord. although the griefe of that day were excessiue in so much as it is sayd in thy person O all you that passe by the way attend and see if there be any griefe like myne yet the loue which flamed in thy hart was incomparably greater For if it had been needfull in respect of our good that thou shouldst haue passed throgh a thousand tymes as much as that and that thou shouldst haue continued vpon the Crosse till the end of the world thou didst place thy selfe vpon it with firme determination to do and suffer whatsoeuer might haue beene necessary for our remedy So that thou didst loue more then thou didst suffer and more was thy loue able to preuaile with thee then the want of loue in those wretches that did torment thee So then did thy loue remaine conquerour and that being so liuely a flame those great riuers of many afflictions that came against thee were not able to quench it And therefore although the torments gaue thee sorrow and sound griefe yet thy loue tooke pleasure in that benefit which we were to receaue thereby For this it is called the day of the ioy of thy hart this day did AbrahaÌ see he reioyced not that he wanted compassion of thy paines but because he saw that the world was to be redeemed by them In this day therefore Go forth you daughters of Sion you being the soules who behold God from the tower of Fayth to see your peace-making King who by his affliction goeth no conclude the desired peace Looke I say vpon him since your eyes were giuen you for that purpose And amongst all the ornaments of his espousall which he weareth looke vpon that crown of thornes which his diuine head doth carry Which although it were platted and put on by those of the Court of Pilate who were Gentills yet is his Mother sayd to haue placed it vpon his head which Mother in that sense was the Synagogue of the race wherof Christ descended according to the flesh For by the accusation of the Synagogue and at the will therof Christ was so tormented Now (h) A strange kind of marriage if any man say that this is a new kind of ornament for a spouse to weare a dolorous crowne insteed of a garland for ornaments of handes and feet sharpe nayles which might passe and pierce them through scourges insteed of a girdle and the hayre of his head and face glued togeather with his owne bloud his sacred beard pulled off from his cheekes and they discoloured with buffeting and that soft bed which in the case of persons newly espoused vse to be filled with pretious odours being conuerted into a bitter Crosse and that erected in place where malefactours were put to death what hath this extreme abasement to do with the ornaments of an espousall What hath this being accompanied by theeues to do with being in the society of friends who should ioy in doing honour to the new spouse What fruit or musickââ or pleasure may it be which heere we see since the Mother and the friends of the spouse do ease griefe and drinke teares and the Angells of peace weepe bitterly There is nothing further off from an espousall then all that which heere appeareth But yet this nouelty is not to be wondered at because the Spouse and the manner of the espousall is all new Christ is a new man both because he is without sinne and because he is both God man and we are they whome he espouseth to himselfe we who are deformed poore and full of misery and this he doth not to permit vs to remaine so but to kill that which is euill in vs and to impart to vs that which is good in him For this
reason it was fit according to the diuine ordinance that he should pay for vs taking vpon him our place and resemblance to the end that by seeming a debter which he was not and by enduring that bitter chastisement which he deserued not he might take away our deformity and might communicate his beauty riches to vs. And (i) The difference of Christ our Lord the spouse of our soules carthly spouses because no man who seeketh a Spouse can make her good if she be euill nor celestiall if she be infernall nor can he giue her a beautifull soule if it be deformed therefore is it that men seeke spouses which are already vertuous beautifull and rich and vpon the marriage day they go well adorned to enioy those aduantages which the others haue and which themselues did not giue But this Spouse ours doth find no soule either good or faire vnles he make it such And that which we are able to giue him as a Dowry is the debt that we haue contracted by our sinnes And because he was pleased to abase himselfe to vs we haue (k) He tooke our misery that so he might coÌmunicate to vs his glory apparelled him so as we our selues were apparelled and he hath so cloathed vs as he is clad For destroying the (l) Sinne. old man vnder the habit which he tooke of a man he hath placed in vs a new and celestiall man after his image And this he brought to passe by these ornaments which seeme to be deformity and frailty but are indeed most high honour and greatnesse since they were able to defeate our so obdurate and inueterate synnes and to bring vs to the grace and friendship of our Lord which is the toppe of all that which can be aymed at This is that glasse wherein thou art often to behold thy selfe euery day to beautify thereby whatsoeuer thou seest deformed in thy soule And this is that figure which is placed on high to the end that whosoeuer shal be bitten by any serpent may looke vp to it and so his woundes may be cured And whensoeuer any thinge which is good doth grow to thee it wil be conserued by thy looking hither giuing thankes to our Lord by the meanes of whose affliction all our blessings are deriued to vs. CHAP. LXX That the exercise of prayer is most important and of the great fruit which is reaped thereby SINCE thou hast already heard that the light which thy eyes are to looke vpon is God humaned and crucifyed it remaineth for me to tell thee what meanes thou art to vse in looking on him Since the thing must be done by way of deuout considerations and by that inward speach which is vsed in prayer But before I tell thee of the course that thou art to hold in thy prayer it wil be fit that I let thee know how profitable this exercise is and especially for (a) The Lady to whom he wrote this booke was not a religious womaÌ in clausure but she liued deuoutly in her owne house yet in state of Virginity and great pennance she was DonÌa Sancha daughter to the Lord of Guadalcaçar thee who hauing renounced the world hast offered thy selfe wholy to our Lord with whome it wil be fit for thee to haue familiar and straite communication if thou desyre to enioy the delicious fruit of thy holy state By prayer we do heere vnderstand A secret and interiour speach whereby the soule doth impart it selfe to God whether it be by way of thinking or by crauing or by thanking or contemplating and in a word all that which doth passe betweene the soule and God in that priuate kind of speach For although to euery one of these particulers there do belong a seuerall reason yet my intent in this place is but only to deliuer in generall how important a thing it is that the soule do intertayn this choyce kind of speach and coÌmunication with her God For (b) PoÌder this well belieue the truth thereof and put thy selfe vpon the practise proofe whereof it would suffice if men were not wholy blind to tell them that God giueth liberty that all men who will may enter into speach with him once in a moneth or in a weeke and that most willingly he would giue them audience and redresse their miseries and enrich them with fauours and that there should be betweene him and them a friendly kind of conuersation as betweene a Father and a sonne And if he would permit that they might speake to him euery day and if yet further he would suffer that euery day they might do it often and lastly if they might haue leaue to be in conuersation with our Lord the whole day and night or as much of this tyme as they could and would and if he would be well content therewith what may that man be vnles he were a man of stone who would not be highly thankefull for such a liberall and profitable licence as this And who would not procure to serue himselfe thereof as much as it were possible for him as of a thing most conuenient for the gayning of honour by being to treate with his Lord and of delight by the enioying of his conuersation and of profit also for as much as they can neuer come empty handed from him And how shall not this be much esteemed which the most high doth offer vs since it would be set at so high a rate if it were offered by some temporall king who in comparison of this most High and of that which may be obtained by conuersation with him the king is a worme and that which any of them or all of them is able to giue is a handfull of dust Why do not men ioy to be with God (c) Prou. â since the delight of God is to be with the sonnes of men His coÌuersation hath no bitternesse belonging to it but alacrity and ioy nor is there incident to his condition any petty or paltry miserablenesse to deny the thinge that is asked of him and in fine our Father he is in whose conuersation we were to ioy though no other aduantage did acrew thereby But (d) A strange progresse of Gods loue to wicked stupide man if thou wilt accompany all the other considerations with this that he doth not only giue vs leaue to speake with him but that he begges it at out handes and counsailes and sometimes commaunds it of vs thou wilt see both how great his goodnesse and thirst is that we would conuerse with him and what wicked thinges we be who will not go being desired and hired to that which we ought to go beseeching that we might haue leaue and offering to pay whatsoeuer were demaunded for it Heereby thou mayst discerne how little feeling men haue of their spiritual necessities which are the true ones for as much as he who truly feeleth them will truly pray and desyre remedy thereof with great instance There is
a Prouerbe which saith Yf thou canst not pray get thee to sea because the many dangers wherein they are that sayle make them cry out to our Lord. But for my part I see no reason why all of vs should not vse this exercise and that with diligence since whether we go by sea or by land I am sure we we are in danger of death eyther of the soule if we fall into mortall synne or of soule and body if we do not rise by pennance from that into which we may fall And (e) The miserable blindnes of man if the care of transitory things and the dust which we beare about in our eyes did giue vs leaue but to consider to reflect vpon the necessityes of our soules without faile we should go crying out to God saying with our whole harts Suffer vs not to fall into tentation O Lord (f) Psalm 34. depart not from me such other wordes we would vse as these agreeable to the present necessity But all our praying dependeth vpon that which passeth in our mindes which vseth to be some temporall good or euill and yet euen vpon those occasions we resort not (g) It draweth a mighty disaduantage vpon vs that although we go to God by Prayer yet for the most part we do it late speedily to prayer but are like people whose last confidence is placed in our Lord and the first and chiefest in themselues or others Whereat our Lord is wont to be much offended and he sayth Where (h) Deut. 3â are thy Gods in whome thy trust is put let thy friends deliuer thee whome a blast of wind will carry away See therefore O Virgin that these things may not besayd of thee but keep thou quicke that feeling in thy soule whereby thou mayst tast this truth That thy true misery consistes in thy not seruing and thy true felicity in seruing God When (i) How we are to carry our sâlues in the desire of any temporall good at the hands of God thou askest any temporall thing let it not be with that kind of anguish and affliction which vseth to proceed from inordinate loue And whether the question be of much or little let thy first confidence be in our Lord the last in those meanes which he shall addresse thee to And be thou greatly thankefull for this benefit that he hath giuen thee leaue to speake and conuerse with him and do thou serue thy selfe of it both in thy prosperityes and afflictions with much frequency and care since by meanes of this speach and conuersation with the most high the seruants of God haue beene enriched and relieued in all their necessityes For they vnderstood that the dangers wherein God left them was to the intent that being straitely assaulted thereby they might haue recourse to him and so the blessinges vvhich he affoarded them did make them go to giue him thankes We (k) Of the great power deuout prayer read of the Gabaonits that they being in great danger vvhen they were besieged by their enemyes sent a messenger to Iosue to whose friendship they had recommended themselues by occasion wherof they were grown into that danger but they found fauour and assistance by demanding it And although those fiue Kinges of whome the Scripture speaketh vvere ouercome in the valley called Siluester and their Cittyes were sackt yet because a young man who had escaped out of the battayle went to carry the news of this defeate to the patriarke Abraham those Kings and their fiue Cittyes obtayned remedy by the hand of Abraham vvho succoured them So that by meanes of one only messenger who goeth to aske fauour of him that hath a power vvill to giue it there is more to be obtayned then by a multitude of fighting men vvhich are either in the Citty or in the Campe. And vvithout doubt so it is that whosoeuer shall send the messenger of an humble and faythfull prayer to God howsoeuer he may be besieged and defeated and thrust euen into the very belly of the Whale shall find our Lord to be (l) Psalm 144. present vvho is neere to all such persons as do vvith sincerity call vpon him And if they know not yet vvhat they are to do by meanes of prayer they find light For with this confidence it was that King Iosaphat sayd When (m) Paral. 20. we know not what to do one remedy we haue which is to lift vp our eyes to thee And S. Iames (n) Iac. 1. sayth That whosoeuer hath need of wisedome is to aske it of God And by this meanes vvere Moyses and Aaron taught by God in those things which they were to negotiate vvith the people For as they vvho gouerne others haue need of double light and to haue it very neere at hand and that at all tymes so haue they also need to make double prayer and to be perfect in it that they may performe it vvithout difficulty and that so they may come to know the vvill of our Lord concerning that which particulerly they are to do that they may obtayne streÌgth to perform it And the knowledge which is so obtayned doth as far exceed all that which vve compasse by our owne discourse and coniectures as he goeth more certainly who seeth his vvay then another who goeth groping in the darke And the good purposes also and strength vvhich is gotten in prayer vse to be incomparably more efficacious and to proue more solidly true then they which are obtayned out of prayer S. Augustine as one who was able to speak by experience sayd that doubts were better dissolued by prayer then by any other study And for feare of wearying thee and because it would be impossible to reckon vp all the particuler fruits of prayer I say no more theÌ that which the supreme Truth sayd That (o) Luc. 11. the celestiall Father would giue a good spirit to them that aske it And it ought to suffice thee that all the Saints did frequent this exercise of prayer For as S. Chrysostome sayth Which of the Saints did not ouercome by praying And he sayth againe That there is not a more puissant thing then the man that prayes And (p) The excelleÌcy necessity of prayer shewed by the examples of Christ our Lord. it should be inough and more then inough for vs to know that Christ Iesus the Lord of vs all did pray in that night of his tribulation so hard as that it cost him a sweat of bloud and he prayed in the (q) Luc. 21. mount Thabor before his body was traÌsfignred he prayed before he raysed Lazarus (r) Ioan. 11. from the dead and sometymes he prayed so at large that the whole night did passe away with him in prayer And after such a long prayer as this S. Luke (Å¿) Luc. 10. relates that from out of his Disciples he chose his twelue Apostles Whereby he taught vs as S. Ambrose sayth
purpose by some (a) Certaine bookes which instruct meÌ how they may examine their consciences for confessioÌ which are euery where to be sold in Catholike couÌtreys Confessionary And after that he hath lamented them well he must declare them to some spirituall Phisitian who hath the power and knowledge to prescribe fit remedyes for that infirmity and who may lay his conscience as flat and euen as yf the man were that day to dye to be presented before the iudgement seat of God In this businesse he may spend some moneth or two dissoluing with bitter sighes the sinnes which he committed by wicked pleasures And for this purpose he may serue himselfe of the reading of some good booke such as I spake of (b) In the discourse of tâe knowledge of ones selfe longe before which may helpe him to thinke of his death and Iudgement and with his thought to descend aliue into that bottomles pitte of eternall fire to the end that he may not descend after he is dead to find the misery which there is felt It will also conduce to this purpose that beholding some Image of the Crucisixe or else remembring it he consider how himselfe by his sinnes was the cause why our Lord did suffer so great tormentes And (c) Woe will be to vs if we do it not let him behold him with attention from head to foot and ponder euery particuler payne of his by it selfe lament euery particuler sinne since the afflictions of our Lord do correspond to our crimes he suffering dishonour for the payment of our pride and of scourges and paynes in payment of our sensuall pleasures and so also in the rest And let him thinke that if a sonne should see his father cruelly scourged and tormented for a fault which not the Father but that sonne had committed and if he should heare this Proclamation made He that committeth such a sinne shall pay for it with such a punishment This Sonne would haue great compassion of his Father and great sorrow for hauing done any such thing as was to cost that Father so dear And if he were a true Sonne it would more afflict him to see his Father so punished then if they should haue punished himself And a straÌg thing it would be if he cryed not out through excesse of griefe confessing that himselfe was the guilty person that him they should punish and not the Father who had made no fault From hence let vs take example to conceans therby more griefe for hauing sinned For it is God who was offended and it is God who was punished for euery mischiefe which might haue growne to vs by euery sinne It is (d) Let euery one make this case his owne I O Lord that sinned but it is thou that payest the payne thereof My wickednes O Lord did put thee in prison and it made thee be proclaimed with infamy through those streets and at last it layd thee vpon a Crosse Let this be thy lamentation with desire to suffer all that for God which he shal be pleased to ordayne And when thou shalt haue made this Examen of thy conscience with sorrow satisfaction according to the aduice of thy Ghostly Father thou mayst after thy hauing receaued sacramental absolution haue confident hope of pardoÌ receaue comfort into thy soule CHAP. LXXII How the second pace towardes the bringing vs to God is the giuing of thankes which we owe him for his hauing so deliuered vs and of the manner how this is to be done by meanes of diuers Misteryes of the Passion which are to be meditated in diuers dayes VVHEN the soule is thus purged from the humours of sinne which gaue it death it must imploy it selfe vpon giuing of thankes for so great and so vndeserued a fauour Not (a) A greater blessing it is to be made the adopted Sonne of God then to be freed from the paines of hell only in respect that God hath forgiuen him the paynes of hell but because he hath receaued him for his Sonne and hath bestowed his grace vpon him and certaine interiour guifs by the merits of the true God Iesus Christ our Lord who dyed for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification killing our sinnes and our old life by his dying and raysing vs vp to a new life by his resurrection And if Iob sayd That the body of a poore man whome he had cloathed would heap benedictions vpon the man who imparted that benefit with much more reason ought we to blesse Christ Iesus crucifyed when our soule doth find it selfe free froÌ misery conforted with fauours belieuing that all our good commeth from him for it is strangely against all reason to be vngrateful to such loue and for such benefits And although euery tyme that thou findest thy selfe well thou art instantly to prayse Christ Iesus with particuler gratitude yet to the end that this may be don the better and with more fruit it will be fit That as to thinke of thy sinnes I aduised thee to seeke some priuate or retyred place there to looke vpon thy selfe so now thou do with much more reason imploy another part of the day in thinking of the Passion of our Lord in giuing him thankes for the benefits which are come to thee by it crying out from thy hart I will neuer forget thy iustifications because in them thou didst giue one life The course then which thou shalt hold if no other better doe occurre may be this On (b) A distribution of the dayes in the Meditation of the PassioÌ of our Lord. Munday to thinke on the prayer of our Lord and the taking of him in the Garden and that which passed in the house of Annas and Caiphas On Tewesday the accusations which were presented against him and the processions that he made from Iudge to Iudge and of the cruell scourging which he endured when he was tyed to the piliar On Wednesday how he was crowned with thornes and what scorne they put him to by drawing him out in a red coate and with a Reede in his hand that all the people might see him and how they sayd Ecce Home On Thursday we cannot displace that most excellent mistery how the sonne of God with profound humility washed the feet of his disciples and gaue to them afterwardes his body and bloud for food of life Commanding both them and all (c) It was his Apostles and in their person to all lawfull Priests their successours whomour Lord coÌmaunded to do the like and not to lay persons as the ProtestaÌts imagine preistes who were to follow that they should doe the same in memory of him Doe thou make thy selfe present at that admirable Lauatory and in that most excellent banquet and then trust in God that thou shalt not depart from thence eyther defyled or dead of hunger Thou shalt thinke on Friday how our Lord was presented before the Iudge and sentenced to death
directing soules in the way of spirit into their handes and by making themselues the Iudges thereof whilst yet they do but follow their owne ignorant opinion And this I say by occasion of men who haue bin deceaued therby and to whome those other thinges haue bin displeasing CHAP. LXXV Wherein some directions are giuen for our greater profit in the aforesaid exercise of Prayer and for the auoyding of some inconueniences which to ignorant persons are wont to arriue THOv art also to be aduâsed that (a) It importeth much that great care be had of this And âead this Chapter with great attention for there is not any one in the whole booke more excellent practicall then this thou must not labour much to fixe the image of our Lord too profoundly in thy imagination for danger is wont to arise therby vnto the soule To which it seemeth sometymes that it doth really and exteriourly see the images which it hath only within And some fall into madnesse and others into pride though neither of these two happen yet doth it preiudice the health of the body and that euen almost without remedy It is therefore fit that thou performe this exercise in such sort that neither thou do wholy forbeare to represent the image nor yet that thou procure to haue it continually or to be fixed in thy selfe with paine but by little and little and so as that it cost thee not too much trouble Thou maiest also haue neere thee some (b) Deuout pictures do both addresse ease the imaginatiue part of man deuout pictures well proportioned to the seuerall partes of the passion by looking vpon which sometymes thou mayest be eased and so enabled without much difficulty to imagine it without them Be also very carefull that not only thou fly from the danger which I haue told thee of in imagining with too much trouble but (c) We must neither be too extremely solicitous on the one side nor sloathful or negligent on the other also from thinking with too much earnestnesse of attentioÌ and with too much employment of the head For besides the hurt which such a head will receaue thereby it causeth a drienesse in the soule which maketh it abhor prayer Do not meditate in such sort nor with so much force that it may seeme as if thou wouldst do it by thy selfe alone or by the strength of thyne own armes For this would carry more resemblance to the nature of study then of prayer But vndertake this exercise in such sort as that thou rely and rest vpon the strength of our Lord who helpeth men how to thinke And if thou yet know not how to do it but that thou perceaue thy head or thy temples find notorious trouble do (d) If thou wilt be sure not to erre take couÌsayle froÌ tyme to tyme of thy ghostly Father according to the circââstances wherein thou shalt find thy selfe not proceed forward but quiet thy selfe and cast away that affliction of mind and humble thy selfe in the sight of God with simplicity and peace desyring grace of him that thou mayst so thinke as he will haue thee and do not in any case presume in that high presence of God to rely and rest wholly vpon thyne owne reasons or stiffe attention But humble thy selfe before him with a simple kind of affection as a poore little Child or an humble disciple would do who carryeth a quiet kind of attention to learne of his maister though yet withall he resolueth to help himselfe And know that this is a businesse which dependeth more (e) How highly true this is vpon the hart then vpon the head For to loue is the end why we are to thinke And for want of vnderstanding this and that kinde of peaceful mind wherof I haue spoken many haue much wearied both their owne and the heads of others with preiudice of their health with impediment to much good which they might haue done And (f) They who vnderstand what he sayth do vnderstaÌd the truth of what he sayth if God do vouchsafe the fauour to make thee able to meditate in this quiet manner that which thou feelest will both continue longer and thou wilt be able to spend more time in prayer and without trouble All which thou wilt find to be very contrary if thou proceed otherwise I haue already said how thy dwelling is to be in thy hart where as a carefull Beâ who makes her hony within her hiue thou art to shut thy selfe vp presenting to our Lord that which shall be brought to thee from abroad beseeching him to giue thee fauour and light as Moyses did in the case of that materiall Tabernacle And if the gall of any temptation shall offer at thee fly thou into thy hart and then pull the doore vpon thee and so ioyning thy selfe to our Lord thy enemyes will remaine out of doores with scorne inough For as the hurt which they might do thee must be by meanes of thy thought when once that is well shut vp from them there is no meanes for them to enter And (g) Note because that thou mayst continue and profit in this exercise it is fit in any case that thou do it with a quiet kind of rest peace I aduertise thee that if thou haue strength to remaine vpon thy knees during this conference with God it will be fit to do so because all reuerence is due to that diuine Maiesty And to this purpose we haue the example of our soueraigne Lord and Maister of whome the Euangelist recordes that in the Garden of Gethsemani he prayed to his Father vpon his knees But yet if the weaknes of thy body be such as that in prayer which is long thou canst not remaine kneeling without preiudice to the peace of thy mind and that it make thee vnfit to attend to our Lord thou art to put thy selfe in some such posture as may not hinder this quietnes For though prayer carry the fruit of satisfaction with it for the paine which we endure therby yet because that fruit is greater which we gather by getting light and spiritual gust other benefits which God giueth in prayer it must be imbraced at the fittest meanes for the obtayning only of that which is best if we be not able to comply withall It is also to be considered that when in thy prayer thou art thinking of some one thing if thou find thy soule inuited to passe on towards somewhat (h) It is impossible thus by way of a generall rule to say that which shal fit in the particuler case of all men the present matter being so full of variety and difficulty if therfore this be thy case and that thou wilt not erre aske couÌsaile of thy Ghostly Father els then opening the gate to another good thought thou art to dismisse the former and to take the latter supposing yet that both be good Though notwithstanding thou art to be well
of the other Yet be not thou dismaid but present thy selfe with them all before ouâ Lord though not without groaning sighes (i) A sweet and significaÌt comparison as the Child would do who letteth the mother see where the thorne hath haspt it self into his hand and he beggeth of her with teares that she will pull it out and so will our Lord do with thee For as he is a glasse to declare thy faults so by his example and helping hand he is the true remedy thereof And now considering through how great shame he was content to passe for the loue of thee thy hart wil be kindled towards the casting away off all affection to honour and his patience will kill thy anger his gall vinegar will cure thy glottony and thy seeing him obedient to his Father euen to the death of the Crosse will tame thy necke towards the obedience of his holy will euen in those thinges wherin thou mayst find the greatest difficulty And when thou shalt behold how that most high God humaned the Lord of the heauens and of the earth all that which they conteine did (k) See heer whether or no thou haue any reasoÌ to be impatient or proud obey those wretches when they were pleased to strip him starcke naked and then to apparaile him againe and when they bound him and when they vnbound him and when they commaunded him to spread himselfe vpon the Crosse and to stretch out his armes that they might be nailed thereunto I am deceaued if it will not giue thee a desyre and that with the deepest sighes of thy hart if it be capable of any feeling to be obedient not only to thy betters and equalls but to thy inferiours also and to submit thy selfe for the loue of God as S. Peter (l) 1. Pet. 2. sayth to all the reasonable creatures in the world and that so farre as euen to be ill vsed by them By this meanes also will couetousnesse come to dye in thee if thou behold those handes boared through for the good of men that they may accomplish that which formerly he commaunded when he said (m) Ioan. 13. Loue you one another as I haue loued you And in a word thou wilt find by experience that S. Paul (n) Rom. 6. said true when he told vs that our old man was crucified with Christ. Yf thou do not fynd this cure and conquest ouer thy selfe to grow instantly as thou wouldest desyre be (o) We are so wicked that we had need to haue much patience with our selues not yet dismaid and giue not ouer thy good beginnings But (p) If we haue little feeling of those thinges at the first we must not yet despaire but be humble diligent in prayer as now thou art come to know that the hardnesse of thy hart and thy wickednesse is greater then thou couldst haue thought so do thou sigh out so many more groanes and with so much the more humility begge thou of our Lord that his mercy may not permit thee to remaine sicke since he being God did suffer and dye to make thee whole And haue thou hope that he will not make himselfe deafe who hath commaunded thee to cry out vpon him and that he will not carry such bowells of cruelty about him as to see thee sicke to hear thee cry out at that gate of the hospitall of his mercy which are his wounds but that some one day or other he will take thee in to cure thee But (q) The perfect cure of thy soule wil not be wrought vpon a suddaine I aduertise thee of this that it is not a businesse to be dispatched in so short a tyme. And although S. Paul (r) Gal 18.9 said in few wordes That they who were of Christ had crucified their flesh with the vices and desires thereof yet such as are not content with departing only from mortall sinne but haue a desire to obtayne a perfect victory ouer themselues by ouercomming those seauen generations of enemyes which haue taken possession of the land of promise do find by experience that the thing which is sayd in one word is not completely performed in many yeares But our soueraigne Lord is wont to giue such persons hope of perfect health vouchsafing them now and then the cure of some particuler infirmity We (Å¿) A place of Holy Scripture excellently applyed read of the Captaine Iosue that hauing ouercome fiue Kinges he sayd thus to his souldiars Set (t) Iosue 10. your feet vpon the neckes of these Kinges and do not feare but take hart and comfort for as our Lord hath ouercome these so will he also all those others whome you fight against Do (u) If thou consider the reward euen in this life which is heer mentioned thou wilt not think thy labour ill imploied and therefore resolue vpon the word of this holy Authour which is Either to conquer of dye thou in this manner and resolue either to conquer or to dye for if thou obtayne not the victory ouer thy passions thou wilt not be able to proceed in the exercise of this familiar conuersation with our Lord. For it is not reason that the most sweet repose which is taken with ioyfull peace in the armes of our Lord be affoarded but to them who first haue fought and with difficulty haue ouercome themselues Nor can they obtaine to be the quiet Temples of that peaceable Salomon if first they be not hammered by the blowes of the mortification of their passions and by the breaking off their wills For (x) The smoake of the passions depriue the soule of being able to see that sweetnes and sublimenes Gods beauty the smoake which vnmortified passions raise vp in the soule do not suffer the sight to be so cleare as it fit for the beholding of the King in his beauty Nor doe they permit the soule to haue that purity which is requisite for the vniting of it with God like a chast Spouse and in a manner which is particuler and secret kept safe for them to whom our Lord vouchsafes to giue it after they haue laboured many yeares as Iacob did for Rachel CHAP. LXXVIII That the most excellent thing which we are to meditate and imitate in the passion of our Lord is the loue where with he offered himself to the Eternall Father AFTER hauing entred into the first exteriour part of the Temple of this true Salomon which is to consider Christ in the exteriour man and after hauing sacrificed thy disordinate passions by the knife of the word of God which office was executed in that part of the Temple which was called Holy it remaines if we meane to proceed in our way that we procure to enter into the Sancta Sanctorum the Holy of Holyes which is a more pretious place and the period of all the rest If now thou aske me which is this place (a) The pretious hart of
our Lord Iesus is the Sancta SanctornÌ I answere That it is the hart of Iesus Christ our Lord who is truly the Holy of Holyes For as he did not content himselfe to suffer only in the exteriour but with a cordiall loue so thou art not to stay vpon the seeing and imitating that which exteriourly appeares but thou must enter into his hart to behold imitate the same And to the end that this entry might be more easy for vs and that which was locked vp in his hart more manifest he permitted after he was dead that howsoeuer he then felt no paine his hart should be (b) By the point of a launce disclosed that so as by an open gate wherby we might discouer a world of admirable mysteryes men might be induced to enter into it might be inuited as to a thing wherein they were to behold that strange beauty which was there conteined But who is able with a tongue to speake therof since he that hath entrance thither and lookes vpon them cannot reach to the greatnes And eueÌ that which he reacheth he is not able to expresse S. Iohn (c) Apoe 11. deliuereth in figure of this that the temple of God was opened and that the Arke of the Testament was seene therein for in the hart of Christ the law of God is fulfilled and there is kept the Manna of celestiall bread and that pretious and complete (d) By the incarnation passion of Christ our Lord. sweetning of God which was signified by that couerture of gold of the ancient Arke And all this in so great excellency that it far exceedeth the very highest pitch of all our thoughtes Dauid (e) Psal 39. sayth Many meruailes hast thou wrought O Lord my God and in those thoughtes which thou hadst for my good there is none like to thee Meruailous (f) Marke this gradation is all that which God hath done and more meruailous is all that which he hath suffered But yet if thou consider the thoughts of his (g) O bottomles Abysse of the lou of our Lord Iesus to mankind hart which euen whilest lest he was suffering did through his loue think as it were but little of any thing except the same very loue thou wilt cry out with a loud cry of thy soule There is none O Lord like to thee Do thou desire him O Virgin when thou shalt see him suffer his handes and necke to be tyed when thou shalt see him endure buffets thornes nailes and death to do thee the fauour to let thee know why being so strong and so powerfull he should suffer himselfe to be treated as if he were so weake without ability of making resistance To this S. Iohn (h) Aâoc 2. wil answeare thee in his name He loued vs and he washed vs from our sin with his bloud Ruminate well vpon these wordes and lodge them deepely in thy hart and entertaine thy selfe in thinking what an admirable and excessiue loue that is which burneth so in his hart as to flame out by suffering such thinges in the exteriour Say within thy selfe What (i) Obserue well the gradations of this chapter which tend towards the making thee all enamoured of our Lord Iesus it is the top of any thing that I haue seene in this kind person might there be in the world for whom I or such an one as I would endure such miseryes without pretending any proper interest but only for pure loue of that other person and thou wil see that to suffer all that which our Lord suffered is not such a kind of thing as which we may looke to find elsewhere for there would be no forces fit for so heauy a burthen To endure some small part of what he endured might perhaps be found betweens fathers and sonnes brother and brother friend and friend man and wife or the like to whoÌ either necessity or bloud or friendship may giue strength to suffer yea and to dye though this of dying but very rarely But to suffer for strangers without any interest of a mans owne without being obliged to it yea and to dye and that for nothing but for meere loue was a thing neuer seene And yet if it should be seene that a slaue should offer to dye for a King and that before his death he wold be scourged endure some of the many tormentes which our Lord did suffer it would be such an act of prowesse as that the slaue might deserue a Pardon although he had committed many faultes And all men would iudge that he had merited many fauours at that Kinges handes if he were able to impart any in the other life Nor would this famous action depart froÌ the mouths of men for a long time yea the King himselfe would recount it both with much thankefullnes and much tendernesse But (k) Giue great attention now let vs turne the story the other way and conceaue that the King himselfe after hauing suffered greiuous tormentes and extreame reproach would needs dye for his slaue from whom he had receiued no seruice but great offences which deserued a most cruell death that the cause of the Kinges dying were the meere nothing but the loue which he bare this slaue This would be a thing neuer seene and neuer heard before and it would betoken such an excessiue kind of loue as would cast them that heard of it into a horrible kind of amazement and would furnish matter to men for publishing the goodnesse of that King al the dayes of their liues And so admirable so new and so sublime a loue would this be that some men of superficiall vertue and weake vnderstanding would be scandalized thereat and would not make such a iudgement of this worke as were conuenient affirming it to be a kind of absurd excesse that the maiesty of a King full of all power and vertue should so cast away his pretious life to the end that his wicked slaue might liue who had most iustly deserued death And (l) Be still attentiue for these are circuÌstances of high importance if moreouer it were added to this story that this King were so wise and so powerfull as that with much facility and without suffering the least inconuenience and without doing the least iniustice to any he could deliuer that slaue of his from death and that yet neuerthelesse he would make vp his loue into so huge a heape and would giue him to vnderstand that he were resolued to endure such and so many miseries as neuer any man endured and all this for no other reason but because that so it would be better for the slaue most certaine it is that few eyes would be found in the world which could be able to behold such a bright sunne of burning loue as this And if any maÌ should haue so good an apprehension as to thinke thereof as the thinge deserued he would escape well if he kept his wittes through
the excesse of admiration and amazement And if this would happen to such as in their owne person had not receiued this benefit from the King but by the only thinking what he had done for another man what may be belieued that it would worke in the hart of that very slaue vnlesse he were franticke for whome that King should so haue dyed Doest thou not thinke that such a knocke of loue as this would awake him would change him would so entitely captiue him to the loue of that King as that he could neuer get leaue of himselfe to conceaue his prayses nor thinke of his merits but with teares Nor employ himselfe vpon any other thing then the expressing of supreme gratitude and loue by doing and suffering for him all that possibly he could Hast thou heard this Parable which in the world did neuer take effect Then (m) A miserable man thou art if this do not mouethee to the very soule know That what the Kings of the earth haue not done that very thing hath beene done by Christ Iesus the King of heauen Of whom S. Iohn (n) Apoc. 19. sayth That in his thigh he carryed this title written King of Kinges and Lord of Lordes For euen as he is man as he hath taken humane nature which is signifyed by the word Thigh so great is his altitude as that it surmounteth all Lords Kings created not only them of this world but (o) The celestiall spirits also of heauen Enioying a Name which is aboue all Names and a height and power of dominion aboue all the highest men and Angells Behold this height which hath no equall and cast downe they eyes to behold that (p) The infinite God for base and sinnefull man basenes for which it suffers And thou wilt see as S. Paul sayth That (q) Rom. 1. we are weake and wicked and traitours against God and his enemyes Which titles are of so much dishonour basenes as that they cast a man backe and downe into the hindmost place and into the lowest price that can be set vpon any creature Since there is nothing so base as to be wicked nor nothing so wicked as a sinner is in respect that he is such Comparing therfore these extremes which are so different of so high a king and so wicked slaues behold now the much that he loued them Come (r) If thou refuse this inuitatioÌ thou art vndone hither into the hart of our Lord and if thou haue the eyes of an Eagle heere in matter for them to worke vpon Nay they will not serue thy turne to make thee sufficiently see the brightly burning high heaped loue which inhabited that most holy soule with such extent and latitude that although those highest Angells of heauen for the great power which they haue to Loue are called Seraphims which signifyeth that they are set on fire yet if they had come to mount Caluary at the time when our Lord did suffer there his excessiue loue would haue cast them into wonder in comparison whereof their owne would haue bin no more then meere tepidity For as that most sacred soule possesseth greater altitude and honour then can be had by any other eyther in heauen or earth for as much as instantly vpon the creation thereof it was vnited to the person of the Word of God so was the Holy Ghost infused into it beyond all measure and such degrees of grace and loue were giuen to it that neither they could increase nor could the soule contayne more So that it is with great reason applyed to this most holy soule which is written The (Å¿) Cant. 1. King did place me in the cellar of wine and in me he ordayned Charity Or as we read in another translation he placed his Ensigne or Banner of loue vpon me For in regard that this soule as soon as it was created did clearly see the Diuine Essence and was carryed to it with an vnspeakable force of loue the banner of holy loue was planted on it To giue vs to vnderstand that this soule was the most ouercome by loue that euer man or Angell was either in Heauen or on Earth And (t) They only conquer who are captiued by the loue of our Lord Iesus because in the warre of the loue of God he that is most ouercome is most worthy and most valiant and most happy therefore doth this most blessed soule carry the Ensigne of loue which standes vpon it That al they may know who either on Earth or in Heauen do pretend to loue God that they must follow the conduct of this Lord if they meane to do it well as the disciple would do his maister or the soldiar his captaine since he exceedeth them all in loue as he exceedeth them otherwise in dominion Now since so great a fire of loue was lodged in that most sacred soule it is (u) If thy hart loue deeply it will find meanes to expresse iâ selfe not strange if the flame fly out and scorch and burne the cloaths which are his most sacred body which was loaden with such torments as giue testimony of the interiour loue For it is written Who shall be able to carry fire in his bosome and that his garment should not be burnt And when thou shalt see that in the exteriour they guide in his handes with cruell ropes thou art to vnderstand that within he is taken prisoner by the nets of loue which are so much stronger then those other as chaynes of iron are beyond threeds of flaxe This (x) Shall we not paâ such loue with loue loue this was it which defeated him which ouer cam him which tooke him which tost him from Iudge to Iudge and from the torment of scourges to the torment of cruell thornes and which cast the Crosse vpon him first and which carryed him to Mount Caluary where he was after cast vpon the Crosse There stretcht he out his armes abroad to be crucifyed in token that his hart had beene opened by his loue and that so widely towardes all as that the brightly burning and puissant beames of loue did sally out from the center of his hart and went to determine themselues vpon euery (y) wherof thou and I are two man in particuler both such as were past such as were present such as were to come offering vp his life for the good of them all And if (z) Note the high Priest do exteriourly carry the names of the (a) Eââd 28. twelue Sonnes of Israel written both vpon his shoulders and vpon his breast much more excellently doth this Priest of ours carry men vpon his shoulders by suffering for men And he carryeth them also written in (b) And our Lord make vs able to write him iâââtâ his hart for he doth so cordially loue them that if the first Adam sold them all for an apple and if they sel themselues at a base price and if so
they grow indeed to hate themselues through the loue they haue of being wicked this enamoured Lord doth so highly prize them so much loue them that to redeeme them out of such a miserable captiuity he gaue himselfe as a price for them In testimony that he loueth them more then they are beloued by any other or then they know how to loue themselues CHAP. LXXIX Of the burning Loue wherewith Christ Iesus loued God and men for God from which loue as from a fountatine that did spring which he suffered in the exteriour and that also which he suffered in the interiour which was much more then the other IF the hart of man be so wicked as Ieremy (a) Ierem. 17. sayd as that God only can tell how to sift it that the more deep a man diggs in that rotten wall the more abhominable filthines is discouered as was shewed in figure to (b) Ezech. 8. Ezechiel with how much more reason may we say that since the hart of Iesus Christ our Lord is more good then any other can be wicked there is none who can wholy diue into it but only the same Lord whose it is It is worthy of admiratioÌ and which in reason ought to robbe vs euen of our very soules and to bind vs as slaues to God to consider the excessiue loue of his hart which did expresse it selfe in suffering the whole course of that Passion and death for vs as we haue shewed But if thou digge yet deeper with the light of heauen in thy hand and do looke neere into this (c) The hart of our Lord Iesus is the Reliquary the loue is the Relique Reliquary of God which is so full of vnspeakable secrets thou wilt discerne such effects of loue as will cast thee into more wonder then any outward thing belonging to the passion For this purpose thou art to remember how in the towne of Bethsaida our Lord being in the cure of a deafe man the Ghospell sayth That he cast vp his sacred eyes to heauen and he sighed deeply and that then he cured the patient That groaning sigh which carryed an exteriour sound was but one and it might passe in a short tyme but it was a witnes of another sigh yea and of many profound internall sighes and which lasted not only for a short tyme but for months yeares For thou art to vnderstand how that most holy soule in being created and infused into the body in that virgineall wombe of our Blessed Lady did then behold the diuine essence which for the height therof is called heauen with great reason as clearly as now it doth And in seeing it it did iudge that it was worthy of all honour and seruice and so it desired all honour to it with that vnspeakeable force of loue wherwith it was endued And although the ordinary law for such as see God clearly be this that they must be blessed both in body and soule and be subiect to no kind of payne yet to the end that we might be redeemed by the pretious afflictions of our Lord it (d) See the inuentioÌs of the loue the God was ordeined that felicity and ioy should remaine in the superiour part of his soule should not redound into the inferiour part or into his body renouncing all that sense of happines which so iustly was due vnto it for the accepting and suffering of that paine to which we were liable Now if that most holy soule who cast the eyes of the vnderstanding vp to the heauen of the diuinity had not had any other thing but that to looke vpon it could not haue been capable of payne since God is such a Good that nothing can grow from the sight of him but loue and ioy But for as much as he saw all the sinnes which then had bin committed by men from the beginning of the world and (e) So that then he saw all and euery of my sins and al thy sinnes those also which would be committed euen to the end of it his griefe was fully as internall and as profound to see that heauen of the Diuine Maiesty offended as his desyre was that it should be serued And (f) The infinite desire which our Lord Iesus had that God should be serued as infinite griefe that he is offeÌded as no man is able to reach to the greatnesse of that defire so neither can any man arriue to the greatnes of that griefe For the holy Ghost which is figured in (g) Note this griefe loue fyre which was giuen him beyond all measure did inflame him to loue God with an incomprehensible (h) Ioan. 11. loue and the same Holy Ghost which is also figured in a (l) Luc. 19. Doue did make him bitterly lament to see him offended whome he loued after such an ineffable manner But to the end that thou maist see how this knife of griefe which passed through the hart of our Lord did not only wound him on the one syde but that it was doubly and most sharply edged remember that the same Lord who looking vp to heauen did deeply sigh did also weepe both ouer Lazarus and ouer Hierusalem And then as S. Ambrose saith it is not to be wondred at that he greiued for all since he wept for one So that to see God offended and to see men destroyed by sinne was a (k) Our Lord graunt vs one touch of this knife vpoÌ our harts by the merits of his knife with a double edge which did most lamentably pierce his hart through the inestimable loue which he bare to God as God and to men for his sake desiring to make satisfaction to the honour of God and to obtaine a remedy for men how deerly soeuer it should cost him O (l) The vnspeakable affliction of our Lord Iesus in his sacred Passion most blessed Iesus to see thee tormented exteriourly in thy body doth euen breake the hart of a Christian but to see thee so tormented and defeated inwardly with such deadly griefe there is no eye there is no force that can endure it Three nayles O Lord did breake through thy handes and feet with excessiue paine and more then seauenty thornes they say did pierce thy diuine head thy buffetts and thy affrontes were very many and the cruell scourget which that most delicate body of thyne receiued they say did passe the number of fiue thousand By occasion of these and many other grieuous torments which concurred in thy passion which no man arriueth to vnderstand but thou that feltest them it was said in thy person long before O all you that passe by the way obserue and see if there be any griefe like myne And yet nowithstanding all this thou whose loue hath no limit didst both seeke and sind new inuentions for the drawing and feeling within thy seife certaine paynes which exceeded those nailes and scourges and tormentes which exteriourly thou didst endure and which continued
that not only during the space of eightteen houres which passed in the tyme of thy sacred Passion but for the whole course of three and thirty yeares from one fiue and twentith of March when thou didst become incarnate till another fiue and twentith of March and eight dayes after when thy life did leaue thee vpon the Crosse Thy (d) The great loue of God to vs is exempliâied by diuers comparisons and proofs of holy Scripture selfe did call thy selfe a Mother when speaking to Hierusalem thou didst say How often (e) Watt 23. would I haue gathered thy children vnder my winges as the Hen doth her chickens but thon wouldest not And to giue vs to vnderstand that thy hart doth carry a particuler loue and tendernes towards vs thou didst compare thy selfe to a Hen which is the creature that is content in extraordinary manner to cast away her comfort and to afflict her selfe for that which concerneth her little ones Nor only art thou like the Hen in this but thou exceedest both that all other mothers in the world as by (f) Isa 49. Isay thy selfe didst say A mother perhaps may forget the sonne of her wombe well yet though she forget him I will not forget thee for I haue written thee in my handes and thy walles do euer stand before me Who O Lord shall be able though he dig neuer so deep to discouer those vnspeakable secrets of loue and sorrow which are in thy hart Thou doest not content thy selfe O Lord with carrying the lone of a Father towardes vs which might only be strong and patient in suffering the afflictions and troubles of a Father but to the end that no delightfull comfort might be wanting to vs not no vexation to thy selfe thou wouldst needs be also a Mother to vs in the tendernes of thy affection which causeth an vnspeakable kind of loue towards her children Yea and more art thou to vs then a Mother for of no Mother haue we read that to the end she might stil remember her sonne she hath written a booke whereof hard nayles of iron were the pen and her owne handes the paper and that by pressing those handes and passing them through with the nayles bloud may issue out insteed of inke which with grieuous payne may giue testimony of the great internall loue not suffering that to be forgotten which still she carryeth in her hands And if this which thou didst endure vpon the Crosse by hauing handes and feet so nayled to it be a thing which exceedeth all loue of Mothers who (g) Christ lesus our Lord became vpon the Crosse as it were a woman in trauaile shall recount that great loue and great griefe wherewith thou drewest all men into the wombe of thy hart groaning deeply for their sins with the groanes of labour like them of child-birth And that not for an houre nor for a day alone but for the whole tyme of thy life which lasted three and thirty yeares till at length like another Rachel thou diedst of trauell vpon the Crosse to the end that (h) Genes 35. Beniamin might be borne aliue The serpents which thou carriedst within thy selfe did giue thee O Lord such gripes that they made thee burst vpon the Crosse to the end that at the price of thy paines those serpents might be conuerted into the simplicity mildnesse of lambes and that in exchange of thy death they might obtaine a life of grace How iustly O Lord mayst thou cal men if thou considerest what thou hast suffered for them the Sonns of thy griefe as Rachel called her sonne since the griefe which their sinnes gaue thee was greater then the pleasure which they tooke by committing them And greater was thy humility and that breach of thy hart then the irreuerence and pride was which they expressed against the most high God when they offended him by breaking his law that so thy paines might ouercome our sinnes as the greater do the lesse More (i) The incomparable griefe of Christ our Lord for sinne is excellently desaâibed O Lord did the sinnes of others grieue thee then any man hath bin euer grieued for his owne And if we read of some who had so great repentance for their sinnes as that their hart not being able to conteyne such griefe it did cost them their liues what sorrow was prouoked in thee by that vnmeasurable loue which thou didst carry both to God and man since one sparke of the same lone being cast into the harts of those others did oppresse them in such sort that it made them breake as if they had bin blowen vp with powder Of many we reade and we know that by hauing heard a newes which was very painefull to them did loose their liues And tell vs now O Lord for thy mercy how thou hadst force to out-liue such a bitter newes when all the sinnes of all mankind were first presented to thee thou louing men much more then any man euer loued another yea or euen himself Especially when thou didest coÌsider know that the misery which was hanging ouer theÌ for the same was greater then any other that could happen And where O Lord didst thou get strength to endure to see thy diuinity oftended and yet to liue since the loue which thou bearest both to it and men did exceed all measure Yet didst thou liue O Lord when thou heardst this newes yea and thou didst liue with the griefe thereof all the dayes of the life But vnles particuler force had bin giuen thee for the enduring of such sorrow it would not haue fayled to haue brought death vpon thee as lesse sorrow hath brought it vpon others So that O Lord they are many and not one only debt which I owe thee And although in regard of these sorrowes which as a mother thou didst endure for men with much reason thou mayst tearme them the sonnes of thy griefe as hath bin said yet as thou also art their Father thou mayst call them also the sonnes of thy right hand as (k) Gen. 35. Iacob did Because (l) The reformation of men doth manifest the power of the Crosse of Christ our Lord. in them is expressed and declared the greatnesse of thy hand which is thy power since thou drawest them out of sinne and dost place them in the state of grace euen in this life and at the later day shalt ranke them vpon thy right hand that so they may accompany thee in glory Being seated there in great security of repose as thou art O Lord at the right hand of thy Father where thou wilt esteeme all that which thou hast laboured and suffered for them to be well imployed CHAP. LXXXI Of other profitable Considerations which may be drawn out of the Passion of our Lord and of other meditations which may be made vpon other pointes and of some directions for such as cannot easily put that which hath bin said in practise YF thou
haue well considered that which hath bin said to thee of the mystery of the Passion of Iesus Christ our Lord thou wilt haue seene how thou art to obserue both his sufferance in the exteriour of his body and the patience and humility and those other vertues which were in his soule and aboue all his amorous and compassiue hart from which all the rest did proceed it will animate thee both to follow him in sufferance and to imitate him also in other thinges But thou art moreouer to vnderstand that thou mayst intertayne many other profitable considerations concerning the passion of our Lord. For thereby thou mayst know as we are permitted (a) We see not eleerly but as in a cloud to know it in this place of banishment how glorious a thing the ioy of heauen is and how grieuous those infernall torments are how pretious is grace how hurtfull and detestable is synne since for the purchasing of those blessinges for vs and the remoouing of these mischiefes from vs Christ himselfe being what he is was yet faine to suffer so great miseries A booke (b) The Passion of our Lord Iesus is a booke wherein we may read and learne all sauing knowledge this is wherein thou mayst read the immense goodnesse of God and the deare sweetnes of his loue and so also the wonderfull rigour of the diuine Iustice which did so punish the sin of others vpon the Iudge himselfe being made man And because I had both a desire a purpose to prosecute this matter more at large and to passe on to the consideration of the diuinity by this step of the most holy soule of Iesus Christ our Lord and that my little health doth keep me from all meanes to do it I now say no more and that which heere I write is the last of this (c) Of the Passion discourse sauing that I recommended to thee all perseuerance in the Meditation of this sacred Passion For (d) Why we are to perseuere in the meditation of the passion of our Lord Iesus although I haue seene some persons exercise themselues therein for a yeare and for more yeares then one without gusting it much yet by their continuance our Lord was brought to pay them at last whatsoeuer he had formerly deferred in such sort as that wheÌ they considered the reward they thought their labour well imployed I (e) Many other courses of deuotion whereby a man may also profit in spirit do also aduertise thee that there are other exercises of Meditation whereby we may walke on towards our Lord as wel by the consideration of the creatures and of the benefits of God and by way of recollecting the hart that it may imploy it selfe vpon louing which is the end of all thinking and indeed of the whole Law And as there are diuers wayes of exercises so are there seuerall inclinations in men and it is a very great blessing of our Lord when he applyeth a man to that which is to be of most profit to him Which (f) Light is to be asked of our Lord in the address of our deuotions euery one ought to begge of him with great instance and to procure for as much as he sindeth in himselfe when first he shall haue giuen relation thereof to such as know more then he to iudge what exercise of prayer is fittest for him for this is that which he is to follow It is (g) A gooddirection for such as can not greatly frame to the recollecting of theÌselues also fit for me to let thee know that there are some so imployed vpon exteriour things that they cannot giue themselues at least for any good space of tyme to these interiour excrcises at which they take discomfort disgust But now if lawfully they cannot forsake those imployments they must content themselues with that state which our Lord hath giuen them and with diligence and alacrity they are to comply with their obligation and to endeauour as much as they can to haue our Lord (h) A blessed thing to haue and keep the presence of God euer present with them for loue of whome they must performe their workes And because there are some who haue a kind of naturall inquietude in their soule and who are wholy so vndeuout and dry that although they imploy both much tyme and care vpon these inward exercises yet they profit nothing it is necessary to let them know that since our Lord doth not giue them the spirit of large and inward prayer they must content themselues with praying vocally vpon the partes of the passion and so praying let them thinke although it be but brei fely of that particuler mystery And let them haue some deuout picture to behould and let them read some deuout books of the passioÌ for it happeneth many tymes that by these steps a man doth rise to the exercise of inward thinking if our Lord be pleased that yet they shall not rise let them giue him thankes for conducting them by that other way Let (i) Concerning such as are scrupulous and pusillanimous such also as are scrupulous and deiected vnderstand That our Lord is not pleased that they should euer be thinking of the sinnes which they haue committed so to be buried in discomfort and griefe like a Lazarus in his graue But it is his will that after mortification be vsed and pennance done wherin they imitate his passion they may also receaue comfort by the hope of pardon whereby they may resemble his Resurrection And when they shall haue kissed his most sacred feete by lamenting their sinnes they may raise themselues vp to kisse his handes for the benefits which they haue receaned and let them walke on between hope and feare which is the safest way of all others And I conclude with telling thee that although there be some who through ignorance or pride haue committed errours in the way of prayer yet (k) We must not giue ouer good things by the ill vse that is made therof by some thou art not to take occasion thereby to leaue it since the fault of others must not make vs giue ouer that which is good but only we must attend to our busines with greater caution And it ought more to encourage vs towardes the following of it to know that Iesus Christ our Lord and his Saints haue walked therein for our example then the few who haue erred must discourage vs. For hardly will there be found that thing whereof ill vse hath not beene made by some CHAP. LXXXII How attentiuely our Lord doth heare vs and how piteously he doth behold vs if we manifest our infirmityes to him with that griefe which is fit and how ready he is to cure vs and to do vs many other fauours THE great goodnesse of our Lord hath this That to the end his Commandementes and Lawes may be kept by vs he maketh them easy in themselues and more easy by
his hauing been pleased to performe them first He hath commanded vs as hath beene sayd that we should heare him and behould him and encline our eare vnto him which is all most reasonable and easy For such a maister who will not heare Who will not be delighted in beholding such a delightfull light Who will not encline his eare to that infinite wisdome But (a) The example of the holy life of our Lord Iesus to the end that the thing which is light might be yet more light he was pleased to passe by the same law which he hath imposed vpon vs he performed it with great diligence He heareth vs he seeth vs he enclineth his eare to vs to the end that we may no loÌger say there is none who looketh towards me none who hearkneth to my complaintes A (b) Look attentiuely to this consideraon great comfort it is for one that is in distresse to haue some body who at all tymes of both day and night will be at good leasure and in good humour to heare his difficultyes related and if without the fayling of any moment he stand looking vpon his miseryes and infirmityes and if he doe not so much as say I am weary of seeing those afflictions thy wounds and soares do turne my stomacke And although such a person were hard of heart we would yet be glad that he should euer heare and see vs. For we would hope that the gutter of our sorrowes which would fall vpon his heart by the conduit of his eares and eyes would one day eate into him and breed compassion since how hard soeuer he were he would not be more hard then stone which yet is wrought vpon by the fall of water although sometimes that water cease to fall And although we knew that he were not able to relieue our miseries yet should we comfort our selues much by the only compassion which he might haue of our case Now (c) The case applyed if we should owe much gratitude to such a person how great must that be which we owe to our Lord And how ioyfull ought we to be in that his eyes and eares are bent vpon the sight of our afflictions and that he doth not at any tyme retire them from vs. And this is done by him not with any hardenesse of hart but with internall and profound mercy and not with mercy of the hart alone but with entire power to relieue our necessities Be (d) God doth euer heare our coÌplaints he is inclined to pitty our ease he is highly able to help vs. thou O Lord eternally blessed who art neither deafe nor blind to our afflictions since thou doest euer heare and see them Nor art thou cruell since of thee it is said Our Lord is a worker (e) Psal 10â of mercies and he is of a mercifull hart he expecteth vs and he is very mercifull Nor is he weake withall since all the miseries and sinnes of the world are both weake few if they be compared to his infinite power which hath no end nor measure We read that in tymes past God gaue a meruailous victory to King (f) 4. Reg. 10. Fzechias ouer his enemies who as some relate did not yield those thankes and sing those praises to our Lord which were both due and accustomed to be presented in such cases For which offence God (g) A great example of âods mercy and mans misery did cast him into a sicknesse and that so dangerous that humanely speaking it could expect no cure And least through a vayne hope of life he might forget to set his soule in order the Prophet Isay was sent to him and he said by the commaundment of God This saith our Lord Dispose of the affayres of thy house for know that thou shalt dye and not line The King being frighted by these wordes turned his face towards the wall and wept with great lamentation imploring the mercy of our Lord. He considered how iustly he had deserued death since he had not bin gratefull to him who had giuen him his life and he reflected vpon the sentence which had already passed on him which said Thou shalt not line Ho found not that there was any thing superiour to him who had passed that sentence that so he might procure to haue it reuersed And although there had bin any such yet would not his title haue bin good For from the man who is vngratefull that is iustly taken away which was mercifully afforded to him He saw that he was but a man of middle age and that the line of Dauid was to fayle in his person for then he was to haue dyed without children And besides all this he was assalted by all the sinnes of his life past the feare wherof is wont to presse men most in that last houre And by these things his hart was euen broken with griefe and troubled like a tempestuous sea and which way soeuer he looked he found reasons of sorrow and feare But (h) They are sure of remedy who haue recourse to prayer especially if they resort to it immediately after the occasion is ministred yet in the middest of so many miseries the good King met with a remedy and it was to aske physicke at his handes who had made him sicke and security of him by whome he had bin frighted and to conuert himselfe to him by hope and pennance from whome he had fled before through pride Yea and of the iudge himselfe he desires that he will become his aduocate and he falls vpon an inuention how to appeale from God not as to any other more high then he but from himselfe being iust to himselfe being mercifull And the reasons of his defence are no other then the accusations of himselfe and the Rhetorike that he vseth are but sighes and teares And by these meanes he is able to preuaile so farre in that court of Chancery of the diuine mercy that before the prophet Isay who was the proclaymer of the sentence of his death could go but haâfe way ouer the Kings chamber our Lord sayd to him Returne and say thus to King Ezechias that Captaine of my people I haue heard thy prayer and I haue seene thy teares I grant thee health and I giue thee moreouer fifteene yeares of life and I will deliuer this Citty out of the handes of thine enemies What is this O Lord So soone doest thou sheath thy sword agayne so soone doest thou turne thy anger into mercy Can a few teares which are shed not in the Temple but in the corner of a bed whilest the eyes looke not vp to heauen but vpon a wal make thee so soone reuoke that sentence which thy maiesty had giuen and commaunded to be notifyed to that guilty person What (l) The pardon of God to man is instant and amorous without vpbrayding is then becomâ of coppying out the whole processe what of the costes of the suite what of the
Hier. 18. saith That if we depart from doing his will he will also repent himselfe of the good he promised Not that God can repent since he is not capable of any change but his meaning is That as one who repenteth himselfe doth vndoe the thing which he had done so will he discharge the sentence of punishment which he had giuen against a man if he do pennance and he will retract that promise which he made of doing him good if that man depart from him CHAP. LXXXIIII What a man is of his owne stock and of the great benefits that we enioy by Iesus Christ our Lord. RETVRNING then to our purpose it is plaine how well this law and practise is fulfilled by Almighty God He heareth and he seeth since he did so soone heare the prayer and see the teares of this (a) Ezechias King And did comfort him not only him but the same he doth to others as Dauid (b) Psal 33. saith The eyes of our Lord are vpon iust persons and his eares are bent towards their prayers to deliuer their soules from death and to susteyne them in tyme of hunger I well belieue that thou likest well this word and yet I belieue also that the coÌdition vnder which it is said doth put thee into some feare A blessed thing it is that the eyes and eares of God are present to vs. But yet thou wilt say In what case am I for he speaketh that of such as are iust and for my part I am full of sinne Thou saiest true and see that thou do truly belieue it For if there were any men who had no sinnes who should they in all reason be rather then the holy Apostles of Iesus Christ our Lord who as they were nearer to him in conuersation of body so were they also in sanctity of mind and so as that none do equall them excepting only the blessed Mother of God who equalleth and exceedeth both them and the Angells And although S. Paul (c) Rom. 8. do say both in his owne person and in that of the Apostles also That they receiued the first fruites of the spirit which signifieth greater grace and giftes then were imparted to other men yet neuerthelesse our Lord commauded them to say that prayer of the Pater Noster whereof this is a part Forgiue vs our debtes or sinnes And since this prayer is for euery day it is plaine that we are told thereby that (d) Be not rash in mistaking but read on and thou wilt see that this is meant of venial sins as distraction in prayer idle words or thoughts and the like not of such others as depriue the soule of grace we haue faultes and that euery day we commit one or other And therefore (e) 1. Ioan. 1. S. Iohn said Yf we say that we haue no sinne we deceaue our selues and truth is not in vs. Now if all men haue synne excepting him alone who is God as well as man and her who is his true Mother for whome were those wordes spoken That the eyes of our Lord are vpon iust persons and his eares are inclined to their prayers I answeare that God is not humorous nor yet doth he pay men with wordes alone sines we see that as he said so he performed with King Ezechias and in numerable others also whom he heard and saw But (f) See heere the verity purity of Catholik doctrine concerning grace and sinne works do thou know that he is a iust person who is not in mortall sinne since such an one is in grace and is the friend of God and of this sort there are many although they haue veniall sinnes But now when there is speach of these last there is none who can truly lay that he is wholy free And to the end that thou mayst be thankefull for this grace and iustice to that Lord through whose merits they are giuen to such as are well disposed thou art to vnderstand that iust persons haue in them two kinds of good some of nature others of grace though Pelagius be in a chafe at this last who said That a man is iust through the good workes which he doth by the strength of his owne nature without needing that grace and strength which is infused by God This errour is condemned by the Catholike Church which commaundeth vs to belieue That of our nature we are sinners first by originall sinne and them by others also which with our will we commit afterward and that in those other workes which yet are after their manner good but yet still within the only latitude of morality and these are the best that we can worke by force of nature true iustice doth no way consist For this it is that S. Paul (g) Rom. 3. saith That no man is iust that is to say of himselfe for we are all sinners of our selues The being iust is giuen to vs it groweth not out of our soyle or stocke for to haue it (h) Christ our Lord is only iust originally of himselfe al other creatures yea euen the pure mother of God her self were to be iustifyed by his redeÌption She was secured from falling into the least sinne either originall or actual because his passion wrought in her holy soule by way of Preseruatiue we are freed after falling because it workes in vs by way of remedy so is the priuiledge of Christ our Lord alone who not by meanes of any other but of his only selfe is the true iust person and in whose workes and death is true iustice For if in the workes which we can do by our nature did consist true Iustice or that by them we could deserue it Christ Iesus (i) The protestaÌts will heere find that they haue no reason to slander vs in this point according to their custome had died in vayne as S. Paul saith since we might haue obteined that without his death which he purchased for vs therby The same Apostle (k) Galat. 3. saith That Christ is made iustice to vs and he saith it because the merit of our iustice doth consist in his workes and death which (l) SuspeÌd your rash iudgment a while if you be a ProtestaÌt and read the 88. chapter which wil deliuer you from errour in this point merit he communicateth to vs by Faith and by loue which is the life thereoâ and by the Sacraments of the Church as we declared before And thus are we incorporated in Christ Iesus and the grace of the holy Ghost is giuen vs by the infusion whereof into our soules we are made the adopted Sonnes of God pleasing to him and so we also receaue vertues and giftes to the end that we may worke agreeably to the high state of the grace which was giuen to vs. By all which we are made truly iust in the sight of God by a iustice which is ours and which dwelleth in vs and (m) Note this which
is a distinct thing from that wherby Christ is iust And from hence it commeth that although the workes which we did before were meane and of aââ imperfect kind of goodnesse and which had noâ in them any true iustice nor could deserue ãâã haue it as being of our owne stocke and store yet those thinges which now we do being oâââ in the state of grace are of so high valew and are workes so truely iust as that they deserue an increase of iustice according to that of (n) Apocâ 22. S. Iohn He that is iust let him be yet more iust and they are worthy to obtaine the kingdome of God as it was sayd by (o) 2. Tim. 4. S. Paul That the Crown of iustice was kept for him This vnspeakable benefit do we owe to Iesus Christ but (p) See heer how honourable to Christ our Lord the doctrine of the holy Catholike Church is in the point of workes this is not all For as it is the ordinance of God that no man shall obtaine grace and iustice but by the merits of this Lord so is it also that none of them that haue it is able to increase or euen to conserue it but by their being vpheld by this Lord as a liuing member is by his head as the fruitful branch is by his vine and as the building is by his foundation For although by gayning grace and iustice for them he gaue them as hath beene sayd a good (q) Because God through Christ our Lord would haue it so title by the way of merit to the kingdome of heauen as also that they should obtaine by prayer that which they would aske as they ought yet if they had a mind to enioy the same and to vse it rightly they must not do it like people which would disband from their captaine or deuide themselues from their head or as if they could go vpon their owne feet alone without the help of any other No a soule must rely vpon and be vnited to this (r) Christ Iesus our Lord. blessed head to the end that (f) See the excellent immaculate doctrine of the holy Catholik Church Grace may be conserued to it and that from thence a certaine spirituall strength may come which may proceed and accompany and follow the good works that it shall do and without which those good workes cannot be meritorious as is declared by the Councell of Trent And by this meanes the prayers which that iust person shall make will be worthy of the eares of God and to obtaine that which the man desires Salomon (t) 2. Para. 6. did begge of God That he who should pray in the Temple which he had made on earth might be heard by God from heauen granting that which should be desired And the true and most excellent Temple of God is Iesus Christ our Lord in respect that he is man in whome as S. Paul sayth The accomplishment of diuinity doth corporally remaine That is it remayneth in him not only by way of grace as it doth in the Angells and in holy men but in another fashion of more weight and valew by the way of the personall vnion whereby that sacred humanity is raised vp to haue the dignity of being personated in the word of God which is one of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity This is that Temple whereof Dauid sayd God heard my voyce from his holy Temple And he that in this Temple shall vtter the speach of prayer which is inspired by his spirit and resting vpon him as a liuing member which demandeth succour by the merits of his head which is Iesus Christ this man I say shall be heard by God in the title of iustice as Dauid was and all iust men were who vvere euer heard But the prayer vvhich is made without this Temple (u) That is we must be members of Christ our head by being in the state of grace which requireth that we resort to the sacrament of pennance with harty sorrow for that sin which is past a firme purpose to coÌmit no more for otherwise insteed of receauing a Sacrament we should commit a sacriledg by whomesoeuer it be made is a oarse and prophane prayer and vnworthy of the ares of God And not being inspired by Iesus Christ it carryeth not that broad seale whereby ãâã should be warranted and held for iust in the âbtaining of what it askes And to the end that Christ in the quality of our aduocate may giue âispatch to our petitions it is necessary that on âarth we be his liuing members and inspired to âray by him For although his mercy is so great âhat many tymes he maketh the petitions of his âead members to be heard which are they that âold the fayth of his Church but are not in state âf grace yet heere we speak only of those which being made in Christ haue the dignity and the âerit of obtayning what they aske And the hoây Church our Mother well knowing the necessity that we haue of Christ in our prayers is wont âo say to the Eternall Father at the end of hers Graunt vs this or that O God through Iesus Christ âur Lord. This did she learne of her spouse and maister when he (x) Ioan. 16. sayd Whatsoeuer thing you aske the Father in my name he will giue it you Let thankes O Lord be giuen to thy name âince through thee we are heard For thou doest not content thy selfe only with being our Mediatour to merit that grace for vs which we receaue by thee nor with being our head which instructeth and moueth vs to pray by thy spirit as we ought but thou also wilt be our (y) He obtayneth that we may be heard by our selues when we aske in his Name Bishop in heauen that so representing to thy Father that sacred humanity which thou hast and the passion which thou didst receaue thou mightst obtayne the effect of that which we desire on earth by our inuocation of thy Name So that as the holy Gâospel sayd When (z) Matt. 3. Marc. 1. Luc. 3. our Lord was baptized the heauens did open themselues to him and although many haue followed in thither after him yet they are opened to none but by his meanes so may we also say that the bowels of his eternall Father which open themselues for the graunting our petitions are opened to Christ And he is the person heard by his Father since the fauour grace vvhere with we are heard we haue by him For if it were not for this as no man would be iust in himselfe so no man could be heard for himselfe And as through the great loue which our Lord did beare vs he tooke our miseryes vpon himself as his owne and he payed for them by his life death so with the same loue vvhich he carryeth towards vs although now he be in heauen if any little one of his be either naked or clad
or hungry or wel fed he sayth it is (a) Matt. 25. himself that is so So that As soone as we were he was in vs as S. Augustine sayth and when we are heard by God he sayth that he is heard through the (b) The vnspeakable vnâoÌ of Christ Iesus our Lord with his seruantâ and his infinite loue to them vnspeakable vnion which is between him and his which is signifyed by the name of the Spouse the fellow spouse and of the head in respect of the body which he loued so much that howsoeuer in ordinary course we see that a man exposeth his arme to receaue the blow for the sauing of the head yet this blessed Lord being the head would needs meet that blow which was giuen by the hand of the iustice of God and so dyed vpon the Crosse to giue life to his body which is our selues And after that he hath quickned vs by the meanes of pennance of the Sacraments he doth regale vs and defend vs and maintayne vs as a thing so much his owne that he is (c) Note not content with calling vs his seruants and friends brothers and sonnes but to teach vs yet better how much he loueth vs and that so he may rayse vs vp to greater honour he endueth vs with his (d) An vnspeakable honour it is if we had the grace to weigh it well to be called ChristiaÌs yea as it were one Christ owne name For by this vnspeakable vnion of Christ the head with the body which is the Church he and we are called one (e) 1. Cor. 12. Christ And this most sweet mystery full of all consolation doth S. Paul giue vs to vnderstand in those wordes when he said That (f) Ephes 2. the heauenly Father did make vs acceptable in his beloned Sonne and that we were created in good workes in Iesus Christ. And to the Corinthians he said You are in Iesus Christ Which manner of speach by the word In doth point vs out to this vnion of Christ and his Church So also our Lord saith by (g) Ioin 11. S. Iohn He that is in me and I in him beareth much fruit for without me you are able to do nothing Thanks (h) A holy conclusioÌ of this chapter be giuen O Lord to thy loue and goodnesse who by thy death didst giue vs life And thankes be giuen to thee also because by thy life thou consernest ours and thou doest imbrace vs so close to thy selfe in this exile of ours that yf we will perseuere in thy seruice thou wilt carry vs to geather with thy selfe and wilt keep vs for euer in heauen where thou art as thy selfe hath said Where I am my selfe there shall my seruant also be CHAP. LXXXV How lowd Christ cryed out and doth euer cry out for vs before the Eternall Father and with how great speede his Maiesty doth heare the prayers of men and bestoweth benefitts vpon them by meanes of this out-cry of his sonne THov mayst already see by what is sayd how great necessity all men haue of the fauour of Christ Iesus to the end that their prayers may be heard as acceptable in the presence of God But it is not so with Christ himselfe for he hath no need that any other should speake for him He it is and he alone whose voyce is heard in respect of it selfe For as S. Paul (a) Hebr. 8. saith he is able to go to his Father himselfe to pray for vs he also saith That Christ in the dayes of his mortall life offering prayers to his Father with a lowd cry and with teares was heard for his reuerence Christ desired his Father that he would deliuer him from death not suffering him to remaine therein by raysing him vp to a life immortall And as he desired so was it granted to him He also offered vp teares and prayers to his Father many times which proceeding from a hart which was full of loue are said to haue bin made with a loud cry And although that loue which made him cry was euer all alike in him for as much as euery teare he shed and euery (b) What infinite loue therfore was that and what loue ought ours to be in answer of it pace that he made was performed with as much loue as when he laid himself downe vpon the Crosse yet considering the exteriour and the nature of the worke it selfe which was wrought so much difference there was betweene the offering of his most holy body vpon the Crosse and the offering vp prayers for vs as there is betweene suffering yea and suffering death on the one side and praying or speaking on the other Remember that which God (c) Gen. 4. said to Cain The voyce of the bloud of thy Brother Abel doth cry out to me from the earth And of that also which S. Paul (d) Hebr. 12. said to vs Christians You are come to aâhedâing of bloud which cryeth out better then that of Abel For (e) The difference betweene the bloud of Christ our Lord and the bloud of Abel that of Abel cryed out to the diuine iustice demaunding vengeance against Cain who spilt it but the bloud of Christ which was shed vpon the earth cryed out to the diuine mercy demaunding pardon The former calleth for anger the later for pitty the former for indignation the later for reconciliation that of Abel asketh vengeance against Cain alone this other asketh pardon for all the wicked men that euer were or will euer be so farre forth as they shal be ready to receiue it with (f) Pennance such a disposition as is fit yea it asketh pardon euen for them which shed it The bloud of Abel was able to profit no man because it had no such power as to pay for the sinnes of others but the bloud of Christ did cleanse both the heauens the earth and the sea as the Church doth sing and drew out such as were detayned in the very pittes of Limbus as the Prophet Zachary affirmes Without fayle the cry of the bloud of Christ desiring mercy is a great cry since it hindred the hearing of that other cry which was made by the sinnes of the world and which demaunded vengeance against the committers thereof Consider thou O Virgin if (g) And thou also who art no virgin consider of it for it speakes to all the world that one only sin of Cain made such a noyse by asking vengeance what noyse what cryes what shouting out do all the sinnes of all men make demaunding the same and greater vengeance in the eares of the iustice of God But yet neuertheles how loud so euer they cry incomparably more loud crieth the bloud of Christ in the eares of the diuine mercy demaunding pardon And it makes that those others are not heard that the noise of our sinnes may be so little and so low as that God may be to them as if he
were deafe For incomparably more acceptable to God was the voyce of Christ and of his Passion and death which demaunded pardon then all the sinnes of the whole world are offensiue demaunding vengeance What doest thou thinke that (h) The profound silence of Christ our Lord in his sacred passion the silence of Christ did procure and that he made him selfe as deafe who did not heare and as a dumbe man who did not open his mouth when he was accused Without doubt since the sinnes of them who by their mouth accused Christ did make a noyse which was full of lyes against him who was not guilty and when he in the meane tyme would needes hold his peace who yet might haue answered them with all iustice it is but due that the rest of the world may not be accused of their sinnes by the Diuells though of it selfe this might be iustly done but that they should be dumbe because they had accused him who was innocent And that since he would needs be (i) Sicââ mutus non aperiââs os suum deafe who yet was so well able to answere it is but reason that the diuine iustice to which Christ offered himselfe for vs should also make it selfe as deafe though we haue done thinges which require vengeance Reioyce therefore O thou spouse of Christ and let all sinners reioyce if indeed they be sorry for hauing sinned and if they dispose themselues to take the (k) Contrition ConfessioÌ and Satisfaction remedyes which are in the Catholike Church For God is deafe towards the punishment of our sinnes but hath his eares wide open towardes the hearing of our prayers with mercy Feare not thy accusers nor those outcryes although thou haue giuen cause thereof since Christ was accused and by his silence did strike dumbe the clamour of our sinnes It was (l) Isa 35. prophesied that he would be silent as the lambe is before the shearer But (m) The great profit which we reape by the silence that Christ our Lord did vse in his sacred Passion when most he was silent and did suffer most in the sight of men so much greater were the out cryes which he gaue to the diuine iust ãâã by paying for vs. And these out cryes were heard as S. Paul (n) Hebr. 5. sayth for his reuerence that is for his great humility and for the reuerence wherewith he humbled himselfe to his Father euen to death and that of the Crosse reuearing in as much as he was man that superexcellent diuine Maiesty and loosing his life for the honour of it He was heard I say by his Father of whome it was written He (o) Psal 102. regarded the prayer of the humble and despised not their petition Now who is so humble as our Blessed Lord who sayd Learne (p) Matt. 11. of me for I am meâke and humble of hart And therefore he was heard as before it was prophesyed in his person Our q Psal 21. Lord did not remooue his face from me and when I cryed out he heard me And the same Lord of ours sayth in the Ghospell I giue (r) Ioan. 21. thee thankes O Father because thou doest euer heare me Now since the Father doth heare him when he prayeth for thee and that the obtayning of grace whereby thou mayst be made iust that so thou maist be heard by God did cost him so dear procure to get it if thou haue it not and if thou haue it employ it in offering vp prayers to God since to such prayers his eares are open And as we must heare our Lord with the Prophet Samuel when he sayth Speake (Å¿) 1. Râg â Lord for thy seruant heareth so doth our Lord say to vs Speake seruant for thy Lord heareth thee And as we sayd long before that our hearing the voyce of God must not be the only hearing of the sound of the wordes but to belieue them and to be pleased in them to put them in execution so the eares of our Lord are opened by the loue of Christ not only to heare what we say for so also doth he heare the blasphemies which are spoken of him and which offend him but our Lord doth heare our petitions in such sort as to performe them And to the end that thou mayst see how true it is that our Lord doth heare the deep sighes that we present to him hearken thou to that which the âaâââe Lord sayth by (t) Isa 65. Isaias Before they call I will heare them O blessed be that holding thy peace O Lord for both within and without didst thou hold thy peace vpon that day of thy Passion Out wardly by not cursing or so much as answearing and in wardly by not contradicting but accepting with great patience those blowes and cryes and paynes of thy passion For thereby thou didst so speake in the eares of God as that we may be heard euen before we speake Nor is this any great meruaile for (u) The inestimable prouidence and goodnes of God in Christ our Lord. as much as we being yet nothing thou didst make vs and before we could aske thee any thing thou didst maintayne vs both within and without the wombe of our Mother and before we knew what it was that might do vs good thou gauest vs the adoption of Sonnes and the grace of the Holy Ghost in holy Baptisme And before we had beene ouerthrowne by sinne thou didst keep vs and when vve were fallen through our own fault thou didst raise vs vp and thou didst seek vs when we sought not thee And that which is more before we were borne thou hadst already dyed for vs and prepared heauen for vs. It is not therefore any wonder that of whome thou hadst so much care before they had any of thee thou haue it also in this particuler And that thou dost giue vs that many times wherof thou seest vs to haue need without expecting that we should weary our selues so much as to aske it since thou didst weary thy selfe so much both in asking and procuring it for vs. What shall we giue thee O most blessed Iesus for this silence which thou didst vse before them vvho did so hate and hurt thee And what shall vve giue thee for those loud cryes so full of loue vvhich thou gauest for vs before thy Father O (x) A deuout contemplation that it were pleasing to thy infinite goodnes to do vs so great a fauour as that we might be so silent towardes the offence of thee and so willing to suffer that which thou vvouldst do with vs as if we vvere so many dead men And that we vvere so full of life towardes the vttering of voyces in thy prayse that neither we whome thou hast redeemed nor the heauens nor the earth nor that which is vnder the earth nor any of that which is in them all might euer cease with the very extremity of all our strength and theirs to sing
thy prayses with great ioy and to serue thee with most ardent loue Nor doest thou content thy selfe O Lord to open thyne eares towards our prayers so to heare them with attentiue speed but as one that loues another in all truth of affection and doth take pleasure to heare him speake or sing so thou O Lord doest say to the soule which is redeemed by thy bloud Shew (y) Canâ â 2. me thy face let thy voice sound in myne cares for thy voyce is sweet thy face is very faire What is this O Lord which thou sayest That thou desirest to heare vs and that our voyce is sweet How doth our face seeme fayre in thyne eyes which we hauing defiled with many sinnes committed by vs euen whylest thou wert looking on are a shamed to let thee see Infallibly it is true that eyther we merit much in thy sight or else thou doest loue vs much But (z) The true humility which is taught by the doctrine of the holy Catholike Church far be it from vs O Lord far be it froÌ vs that out of thy mercifull proceeding we should draw a reason of being proud Since that whereby we please thee and are acceptable to thee is thyne owne grace which thou didst giue vs. And besides that thou doest regale and thou doest reward thy seruants more aboundantly then becomes any merit of theirs Let glory therfore begâuen to thee O Lord from whom all our good proceedeth and in whome all our good consisteth to vs in vs let confusion be for our vnworthynesse and wickednes Thou art our ioy and thou art that glory wherein we glory and this we do not vniustly but vpon great reason For a high honour it is to be beloued by thee and so beloued as that thou wouldst deliuer thy selfe ouer for our sakes to the tormentes of the Crosse from whence all blessings are deriued downe vpon vs. CHAP. LXXXVI Of the great loue wherewith our Lord doth behold such as are iust and of the much that be desyreth to communicate himselfe to creatures and to destroy our sinnes which we must behold with detestation that God may looke vpon them with compassion NOvv that thou hast vnderstood the speed wherwith God heareth the prayers of such as are iust it remaineth for thee to know the great loue wherwith he behouldeth them that (a) God heareth seeth our prayers as he requireth vs to looke vp to him to giue eare to his holy inspiratioÌs so he may entirely performe in himselfe that of hearing and seeing which he commaundeth of vs. The eyes of our Lord saith Dauid are vpon the iust to deliuer them from death but the face of our Lord is vpon the wicked that he may cast out the memory of them from the earth Heereby it appeares that our Lord placeth his eyes vpon the iust as the pastour doth vpon his sheep that they may not perish And so also doth he place them vpon the wicked to the end that they may not passe without the punishment which their sinnes deserue Two (b) What God made and what we make thinges there are in vs one which God made and that is the creature consisting of a Body and Soule with all the good that we haue the other which our selues did make and that is sinne Now if we did not accompany that good which we haue of God by somewhat else which is an euill of our owne there could be nothing in vs which our Lord would behold with the eyes of Anger but only of Loue since it is a naturall thinge for any cause to loue the effect of it selfe But now though we haue defiled and destroyed that which the beautifull God had made fayre in vs yet will he not totally cast vs off Nor can our wickednesse hinder his supereminent goodnes which for the recouering of that which he made good resolueth to destroy that euill which our selues did make For (c) An excellent comparison set forth with great life of circumstance if we see that this corporall sunne do with so liberall a hand impart it selfe and goeth as it were inuiting men to receiue it bestoweth light and heat vpon all them who giue no impediment thereunto yea when they do yet doth it as it were euen become obstinate in making them remooue the same and if it meete with any chinke or crany how little so euer it doth by that conuey it selfe and fill the whole house full of light what shall we say of that supreame diuine goodnesse which with so great anxiety as it were and force of loue doth go circling round about the creatures that he may bestow himselfe vpon them and fill them with liuely and diuine splendours What occasions doth he seeke of doing good to meÌ And to many for some smal seruices he hath vouchsafed to do no small fauours What entreaties doth he vse to them who depart that they will returne againe What imbracementes doth he giue them when they come backe What seeking of such as are lost What addressing such as are gone astray What pardoning of sinnes without reproach What ioy in restoring men to saluation Letting them know that he more desireth to graunt a pardon then they care to sue it out And therefore it is that he sayth to sinners Why (d) Ezech. 33. will you needs dye Know that I desire not the death of a sinner but that he may returne and liue Returne to me and you shall liue Our (e) Note this excellent consideration death consisteth in our departure from God and therefore to returne to him is to liue Whereunto we are inuited by Almighty God whose principall intention is not to lodge the eyes of his wrath vpoÌ the worke of his hands which is our selues but vpon the worke of ours which are our sinnes These would God faine destroy if we did not hinder him but this we do when we loue our sinnes giuing them life by our loue which by being loued do murther vs. And so great is the hungar which that soueraigne bounty hath towards the destruction of our wickednesse to the end that so his creature may not be destroyed that (f) Let all the Angels prayse our Lord for so infinite goodnes when soeuer a man will and how oft soeuer he will and how great soeuer the sinnes be which he hath committed if he will dispose himselfe to do pennance and to begge pardon of our Lord for his part he is ready to receaue vs. Forgiuing that which we haue deserued curing that which we made sicke straightning that which we made crooked and giuing vs grace to abhorre those thinges which formerly were by vs beloued Yea in such sort doth he destroy our wickednes and deuide it from vs that Dauid (g) Psalâ 102. sayth Looke what distance there is betweene the rising and setting of the Sunne so far hath he separated our sinnes from vs. So that the beginning and first
pace that the eyes of God do make is not against the man whome he created but against the sinne which we committed And whensoeuer he looketh vpon a man to his destruction it is then when the man will not suffer him to execute his wrath against sinne which he would (h) By drawing that soule to pennance fayne destroy But man would needs continue in sinne giue life to that which destroyed himself and displeased God It is therefore but reason that his death remaine aliue and that his life be for euer dead since he would not open the gate to him who for loue and with loue both could and would haue murthered his death and endued him with life But some will say what remedy shall I meet withall that God may not behold my sinne to punish but that he may looke vpon his creature to saue it S. Augustine (i) Hearken to the great and good S. Augustine doth briefly and truely answere thus Let thy selfe looke vpon thy sinnes that is do thou consider them and do pennance for them and God will not see them but if thou cast them behind thy backe then will God place them before his face Dauid did beseech our Lord to forgiue his sinnes saying thus Haue (k) Psal 50. mercy on me O Lord according to thy great mercy and he also sayd Turne thy face O Lord from my sinnes But what did he alleadge towards the obtayning of so great a fauour Nothing lesse then any seruice that he had done For he wel knew that if a seruant should commit a treason against his Lord his seruices would not be considered though he should haue serued many yeares before with diligence For if he serued before he was obliged so to do and he brought not his Lord in debt thereby but his treason is the thing that must be thought of which he was bound not to haue committed and therefore by paying that which he did owe before he came not to ransome himselfe from that penalty which afterward he incurred Neither yet did Dauid offer sacrifices as well knowing that God takes no pleasure (l) Vnles it were accompanied by a penitent Religious hart for if it were it was acceptable to God in the old law for so himself had ordained in the burning of beasts But he who could find no remedy eyther in seruices that were past or in pious external works which then vvere present did find it in an humbled contrite hart And he desired to be pardoned vpon this ensuing reason For I know my wickednes and my sinne doth euer stand before myne eyes An admirable power did God giue to this our beholding and profoundly sighing for our sinnes since Gods seeing of them doth follow to the end that he may dissolue them And we conuerting our eyes with griefe towardes that which vve did wickedly commit he conuerteth his towards the saluation and consolation of him vvhome he did create CHAP. LXXXVII Of the many and great benefits which come to men in that the Eternall Father doth behold the face of Iesus Christ his Sonne BVT some wil say whence commeth so great force to our looking and to our weeping that so instantly it should draw after it Gods seeing and that so as to forgiue vs. It is far from comming from our looking it selfe For the theef deserueth not to be pardoned the gallowes because he knowes that he did ill in stealing and how much and yet much more soeuer he lamenteth But this proceedeth from another sight which is more fauourable and withall so full of power that it is the cause and fountaine of al our good This is that whereof Dauid (a) Psal 83. sayth Behold O God our defendour behold the face of thy Christ. He twice beseecheth God to behold to giue vs therby to vnderstand with how much affection we are to thinke of this and how much it importeth vs to obtaine it For as the sight of God vpon vs doth bring all benedictions to vs so Gods looking vpon Christ doth draw the sight of God to vs. Do not thinke O Virgin (b) How Almighty God commeth to loue mankind that the gracious and amorous beames of the eyes of God descend in a right line vpon vs when he receaueth vs inâo his grace or euen when already we are in grace that they desceÌd vpon vs as vpon a differeÌt thing from Christ For if so thou thinke thou art no better then blind But know that first they addresse themselues to Christ and from thence to vs by him and in him Nor (c) No creature can obtaine the least cast of an eye of âerev from God but only for the loue of Christ our Lord. will our Lord vtter one word nor cast one countenance of loue to any creature of the whole world if he see it separated from Christ but for the loue of Christ he so behouldeth all them as to pardon them who although they be neuer so wicked will behould and lament themselues in Christ he also behoâldeth such persons for their preseruation and for their increase in the good which already they haue receaued Christ being beloued is the cause that we are receaued into grace And if Christ Iesus were not no creature at all would be acceptable or beloued in the sight of God as was sayd before Know therefore O Virgin what necessity thou hast of Christ and be thou (d) Al woe will be to such as are not so internally and profoundly gratefull to him For the good which thou hast came towardes thee by no other meanes then by Christ and in him is it to be conserued to thee and augmented by the eternall Father And this is that which was figured in the beginning of the world when the iust Abel that Pastour of sheep did offer a sacrifice to God out of his flocke which sacrifice was accepted as the Scriptore sayth For our Lord did looke on Abel and his guifts And this looking on him doth import that Abel was gratefull to him and for that agayne his guifts were gratefull And in testimony that so they were God sent downe visible fyre which consumed the sacrifice Now this is a figure of our iust soueraigne Pastour who sayth himself I (e) Ioan. 10. am the good Pastour and he is also a Priest consequently as S. Paul (f) Hebr. 5. sayth he is to offer guifts and sacrifices to God But what can (g) Leuit. 22. Deut. 22. he offer that shall be worthy of him Certainly not brute beasts and much lesse sinfull men for such do rather serue to prouoke the wrath of God theÌ to obtayne his mercy Nor without cause did God commaund in the old law that the beast which was to be offered should be male not female and of such an age neither too little nor too great nor blind nor lame nor subiect to any of those conditions which are there described to the end that the
thing which was to be offered for the taking away of sinne might be subiect to no imperfection or fault Now (h) The necessity which we were in that Christ our Lord should be sacrificed for vs. because no man was without synne this great Priest of ours had nothing else to offer but himselfe making him that was the Priest to be also the sacrifice offering vp himselfe to himselfe he being cleane that he might cleanse vs who were defiled he who was iust to iustify vs who are sinners he who vvas acceptable and esteemed to the end that we might be receiued into fauour Who in our owne respects were offensiue and vnbeloued And this sacrifice was of so high valew both in regard of the thing it selfe and in respect of him who did offer it which is al one that we who were separated from God like lost sheepe were brought backe all washed and sanctifyed and made worthy to be offered vp to God Not that we had any thing of our owne stocke which was fit to please him but being bedewed by the bloud of this Pastour and being adorned with the beauty of his grace and iustice which is bestowed vpon vs for our Lords sake and being incorporated to him we are cleansed from our sinnes and we are beheld by God and made acceptable to him as a sacrifice offered vp by this high Priest and pastour This did (i) 1. Pet. â S. Peter thus expresse Christ dyed once for vs to the end that he might offer vs vp to God being mortifyed in the flesh and quickned in the spirit And so it appeares how our Abel doth offer vp an oblation out of his flocke which God beheld because (k) Agnus occisus ab origine inuâds first he had beheld his most deare sonne And as there visible fire came downe vpon the sacrifice so also did fire come heere vpon the day of Pentecost in the forme of tongues And this hapned after Christ ascended vp to heauen where he might appeare to the face of God for vs. To the end that we might vnderstand that from the cast of the countenance of God vpon the face of Christ which as it is said (l) Hester âworâ of Hesther is full of grace came that fire of the holy Ghost which burnt those giftes which this great Pastour and Bishop offered vp to his Father and they were his disciples both such as were then present and such others as were to follow afterward And as God promised to Noë that whensoeuer it should raine much he was to looke vpon the bow which he placed in the cloudes in token of the league which he made with men not to destroy the earth any more by water so much more God beholding his Sonne being layd vpon the Crosse hauing his armes spread abroad in the forme of a bow doth take the arrowes which he was about to shoot out of that other rigorous bow of his and insteed of punishing he doth imbrace vs being more ouercome to shew vs mercy by this strong bow which is Christ then he was induced by our sinnes to punish vs. And howsoeuer we went wandring away with our backes turned towardes the light which is God and that we would not looke vpon him but passe our dayes in the darcknesse of sinne yet we are brought backe by him vpon his shoulders And because it is (m) It is only for the loue of Christ that God behouldeth sinners with mercy he that bringeth vs our Lord God looketh vpon vs and he maketh vs also looke on him And he hath so particuler care of vs that not for so much as any one moment of time doth he remooue his eyes from vs least other wise we should vndoe our selues Whence dost thou thinke did proceed this amourous word which God did speak to a sinner thereby to draw him to repentance I will (n) Psalââ 21. giue thee vnderstanding and will teach thee the way wherein thou art to walke and vpon thee will I place myne eyes but only from that amorous countenance wherewith God beholdeth Iesus Christ who is the wisdome which teacheth vs the true way wherein we may walke without stumbling and the true pastour as he is man by whome we are beheld who as he is God beholdeth vs. Remoouing (o) Note heere a liuely and deare description of the innumerable wayes whereby Almighty âod sheweth mercy towarde vs through Christ our Lord. the daungers that are before vs wherinto he knoweth that we would fall hereafter holding vs fast against such as do assault vs at the present and deliuering vs from them into which by our fault we haue fallen euer thinking of that which importeth vs though our selues be full of negligence remembring our good when we forget his seruice watching ouer vs when we sleepe keeping vs close to himselfe when we would faine be gone calling vs backe when we fly giuing vs imbracementes when we returne being euer the last in breaking of friendship and the first who begges the renewing of it though he were the person offended and carrying in all and throughout all such a watchfull amorous eye ouer vs as ordaineth all thinges for our good What shall we say or what shall we do for so great fauours but giue thankes to this true Pastour who to the end that his sheep might not be estranged from the eyes of God did offer his owne face to so many affrontes That his Father seing him so afflicted and yet vvithout all fault might behold such as indeed vvere faulty vvith the eyes of mercy And to the end that we might carry this word engrauen both in our harts and vpon our tongues Looke O Lord vpon the face of thy Christ. Knowing well by great experience that God doth much better both heare and see and encline his care to vs then we do to him CHAP. LXXXVIII How it is to be vnderstood that Christ is our Iustice least otherwise we should fall into some errour by conceaning that iust persons haue not a distinct iustice from that whereby Iesus Christ is inst SO much (a) I beseech the Protestát reader vpon my knees that he will reade this following discourse without passion is the cockle which our enemy hath sowed in their hartes who will belieue him that he induceth them to draw peruerse opinions out of the wordes of holy Scripture which speak of this most sweet mystery of Iesus Christ our Lord and of the benefits which we possesse by him and in him Whereof I thought it fit to aduertise thee that so thou mightest be free from danger Do not thou conceaue that because Christ is called our iustice or because it is sayd That (b) Ephes 2. we are made acceptable to God in him or in fine by such other wordes as these that therefore I say they who are in the state of grace haue not a iustice in them which is theirs whereby they become iust acceptable to God and which
after it was obteined that they might bring forth workes which (l) Al this originally by the only goodnes and promise of God through the meriâs of Christ our Lord carry a condignity to the deseruing of eternall life as a iust reward of such seruices and as an inheritance duly deriued vpon sonnes And if it seeme a thing disproportionable to the basenes and weakenes of mankind to do a thing which carryeth a proportion of merit to the sublimity and eternity of that heauenly kingdome (m) Note and be no longer scandalized at thyn own conceits for the Catholike doctrine being rightly vnderstood will giue thee no cause thou art not heere to looke vpon a man as of himselfe but as being honoured and accompanied with that celestiall grace which is infused to his soule and so made (n) These are great wordes but it was the holy Ghost which spake theÌ partaker of the diuine nature as S Peter (o) 2. Pet. 1. saith And do thou consider him as a liuing member of Iesus Christ our Lord which being incorporated to him doth liue and worke by that spirituall inffluxe which commeth from him and whereby he doth partake his merits Now (p) Note these thinges are so high as that they carry an equality with those other thinges which are hoped for and they are sufficient to enable vs to say with truth That such as liue so do fullfill the law of God and do that which S. Paul required of the (q) Col 1. Colossians and the (r) I hâsâ 1. Thessalonians when he aduised them To liue worthy of God Of (s) Note this inference whome he would neuer haue expected the discharge of so that by the meanes aforesayd it might be performed and that it was more the worke of God then of men For instantly the same Apostle giueth thanks to God For making them worthy of the portion of the Saints in light And what kind of portion this is the Prophet Hieremy (t) Threââ declareth saying My portion is our Lord and therefore I will hope for him And Dauid sayth of God Thou art my portion for euer Of this portion he is worthy who doth (n) Et facere pati magn Christianis est accomplish the law of God by those workes aforesayd and who is found faithfull in those trialls that God doth send him as it is written Our Lord did try them and he found them worthy of himselfe And both for these and those it is also written That God will giue them the hire of the labours of his Saints CHAP. XC That the graunting that there is perfect cleanesse from sinne in such as are iust by the merits of Christ Iesus doth not only not diminish his honour but much more declare it LET no (a) A wise confortable and wel grouÌded discourse man feare to attribute the height of spirituall honour and the aboundance of spirituall riches and perfect cleanes from sinne to them whom the heauenly Father doth iustify by the merits of Iesus Christ our Lord. Let no man thinke that the qualifying of such persons so doth put the honour of the same Lord to any preiudice For since all that which they haue descendeth vpon them by his meanes not only doth not their being so full of dignity dishonour him but it doth publish magnify his honour Since it is euident that how much more iust and more beautifull they are of so much more valew do the merits of him plainely appeare to be who purchased so great a blessing for them which of themselues they neither had nor could procure The Scripture sayth That (b) Thâen 14. where the manger is full the strength of the Oxe is made apparent the reason is because by his labour he filled the same full of meate And S. Paul (c) 1. Thes 2. sayth to some whome he had holpen forward by his doctrine and by his labours That they were his honour his crowne in the sight of our Lord. And then how much more will they be the crowne of our Lord Iesus himselfe They who by him are drawn to the honour of being his sonnes and to be full of treasures and blessings which honour is so much the more as those blessinges are the greater Our (d) Our aduersarves make him such a one wheÌ they conceaue that he alloweth not that the Saints should be honoured by our inuâcations whylest yet themselues do giue the same honour to sinnefull men Lord is not like some persons who are in paine or at least not greatly pleased with the honour or vertue of their seruants as conceauing that it doth obscure their owne or like certaine vaine women who fly from being attended by fayre seruants least so the flowre of their owne beauty should be blasted But make thou no doubt but that Iesus Christ our Lord hath a certaine kind of Charity which exceedeth all humane conceit as S. Paul sayth in (e) In infââitevân chating of God esteeming our good as his owne and to the end that we might be made rich in graces he left his most worthy life vpon the Crosse The naturall sonne he is of God and we are sonnes adopted through him and he being the only sonne did exalt vs to the title of brother hood giuing vs his God for our God and his Father for our Father as himselfe said I (f) Ioan. â0 ascend to my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God And so as (g) Ioan. â S. Iohn saith speaking of the same Lord we saw the glory of him as the glory of the only begotten sonne And he saith also of him That he is full of grace truth Therfore the honour and spirituall riches of these adopted sonnes must be such as becommeth the sonnes of a Father who is God And if grace and truth were made by Iesus Christ as S. Iohn (h) Ioan. 1. saith it was not made that it might remayne alone in him but that it might be deriued downe vpon vs and that we might take some part of his fulnesse and this in such abundance that S. Paul (i) 2. Cor. 9. calleth it a gift which as now we are cannot be related by vs. And to the end that we may know the riches of that inheritance which in his company we may hope to enioy the same S. Paul (k) Ephes beseecheth God To giue him the spirit of wisdome and of reuelation because that blessing is greater then our reason is able to reach vnto Glory and grace and thankes be to thee O Lord for euer who so hast honoured and enriched vs with present giftes and hast comforted vs with the hope of being the heyres of God togeather with thy selfe and who didst carry so great loue to vs as that it wrought better with thee then it did with (l) Iob. 41. Iob That thou mightst not cate thy bitte of bread alone but that the orphane
to be despised or cast of for his infirmityes but to be endured pittied and relieued Now by that which passeth in himselfe as well in suffering afflictions as in desiring the redresse thereof let him learne to know what his neighbour feeleth who is made of the same frayle nature and let him behold and support and releeue him with the same compassion wherewith he beholdeth and desireth that himselfe may be releeued in like case and so shall that be accomplished which the (b) Eccles 31. Scripture sayth The thinges of thy neighbour vnderstand thou of thy selfe For otherwise what thinge can be more abhominable then for a man to haue pitty of his owne infirmities and to shew rigour towards them of others to desire that al men should endure him with a great deale of patience his owne errours seeming small whylest himselfe will haue no patience with others but make of euery moate of theirs a beame A man who desireth that all men would looke on him and comfort him whylest himselfe will be carelesse and curst to others deserueth not to be called a man since he beholdes not men with the eyes of a man which it becomes to be full of pitty The holy Scripture (c) Prou. 10. sayth To haue a weight and a weight a measure and a measure is an abomination before God Giuing vs so to vnderstand that he who hath (d) Note a great measure wherewith to receaue and another little one wherewith to giue is disagreable to the eyes of his diuine Maiesty And his punishment shall be that since he would not measure to his neighbour with that mercy wherewith he would be measured to God will measure to him with that cruell and straite measure wherewith he measured to his neighbour For it is written That (e) Matt. 7. with the same measure wherewith you measure it shal be measured to you agayne and iudgement without mercy shal be shewed to him who sheweth not mercy And (f) An excellent aduice therefore thou O Virgin in whatsoeuer condition thou seest thy neighbour consider what thou wouldst feele in thy selfe and what thou desirest that others should feele concerning thee if to thee that thinge should happen and with the same eyes which passe through thy selfe haue thou compassion of him and giue him remedy in what thou mayst and so God will measure vnto thee with the same measure of piety wherewith thou measurest to him According to his owne wordes Blessed (g) Matt. 5. are the mercifull for they shall obteine mercy And thus shalt thou draw the knowledge of thy neighbour out of the knowledge of thy selfe and thou wilt be compassionate towardes all men CHAP. XCV That from the knowledge of the loue which Christ beareth to vs we are to draw a reason for louing our neighbours CONSIDER (a) By the consideration of the loue of Christ our Lord to our Neighbours we shall be draân to loue them teâderly now how thou art to draw this loue of thy neighbours out of the knowledg of Christ Consider with how great mercy the sonne of God made himselfe man for the loue of men and with how great care he did throughout his whole life procure their good and with how excessiue both loue and griefe he offered his life for them vpon the Crosse And as by reflecting vpon thy selfe thou didst behold thy neighbour with humane and gentle eyes so considering Christ thou wilt behould him (b) An excellent consideratioÌ sweet and solid with Christian eyes that is with such eyes as wherwith he was pleased to behould thee For if Christ remaine in thee thou wilt haue the same sense or feeling of thinges which he had and thou wilt see with how great reason thou art obliged to tolerate thy Neighbours fraylty whom he loued and esteemed as the head doth his body as the spouse his fellow-spouse as a brother his brethren and as an indulgent Father his children Beseech thou our Lord that he will open thyne eyes wherewith thou mayst see that inflamed fire of loue which burnt in his hart when he went vp to the Crosse for the good of all men little and great good and bad past present and to come yea euen for them who then were in the act of crucifying him And consider again that this loue of his is not growne cold but that if the first death were not sufficient for our remedy with the same loue would he dye againe wherwith then he dyed And as he offered himselfe corporally once to his Father so doth he often make this oblation by actes of will and with the selfe same loue Come (c) He lâueth not Christ who loueth not his neighbour whome Christ did so deerely loue now and tell me who is he that can find in his hart to be cruell to them to whome Christ was so full of pitty How shall he find a way to desire euill to one whose good and saluation is so desired by God It cannot be spoken nor written what a profound and tender loue is engendred in the hart of a Christian who considereth not his neighbours according to externall respects such as are riches or kinred or the like but as parts of the very bowels of Christ Iesus and as a thing knit to Christ by all the bandes both of kinred and friendship How then can it seeme much to thee that a man who is a louer of Christ shold loue his neighbours considering that they are his very mysticall body and that the same Lord hath sayd by his owne mouth That the good or bad which he shall do to his Neighbour our Lord receaueth it as done to himselfe And from the deep consideration of these words the (d) A man that considereth christ our Lord in his neighbour will not only loue that Neighbour but reuere him good Christian growes to conuerse amongst his neighbours with a certaine profound reuerence and with a deep and tender loue and with a smooth kind of meeknes by hauing patience with them and by a watchfull care not to offend or hurt them but rather to profit and please them For it seemeth to him that he is conuersing with Christ himselfe since he beholdeth him in them to whome in his very hart he doth esteeme himselfe more a slaue then if they had bought him by some mighty summe of money For considering that deere price which Christ Iesus payd for man when he purchased him vpon the Crosse with his precious bloud what can such an one be able to do but to offer himselfe all to the seruice of Christ desiring that some occasion were presented wherin he might expresse the gratitude and loue he beareth to him And when he heareth this from the mouth of God If thou loue me feed me sheep and againe He that receaueth one of these little ones receaueth me and He that sheweth workes of mercy to one of them doth shew them to me he I say doth esteeme it for
it for it walkes in darknes and it is obscured beyond (b) Thren 4. the black of coales according to that lamentation of Hieremy Least of all hath it the fourth condition since there is nothing so miserably little as to be a sinner who is nothing and lesse then nothing So that all the conditions of beauty being wanting to such a soule it will not faile to be deformed And because all those soules which are infused into the bodyes that descend of Adam be (c) Christ our Lord our B. Lady are excepted and therefore he vseth the word ordinary to oppose it to that other way which is extraordinary ordinarily sinners it will follow that they are all deformed CHAP. CVII How the deformity of sinne is so wicked a thing as that no force or law of Nature or of Scripture were sufficient to abolish it but only Iesus Christ in vertue of whome sinne was euer taken away and grace was giuen THIS deformity of sin is so hardly or indeed so impossibly to be taken away by the force of any creature that all of them togeather are not able to beautifye any one deformed soule Our Lord declareth this by the Prophet (a) Hier. 2. Hieremy saying If thou shalt be washed with salpetre and with abundance of sope yet art thou defiled in my presence The meaning whereof is That for the taking away of sinne neither the salpetre or the reprehensions of the Prophets nor the rigorous punishmentes of the old law nor yet the faire speaches and promises which God did make at that time were sufficient Men were defiled then in the middest both of their punishmentes and of their comfortes of threatninges and of promises For no man was iustified in the sight of God as S. Paul (b) Gal. 3. sayth by the works of the old law and therfore the soule could not haue such beauty in it as to make it desirable by Almighty God because there was a want of iustification which is the cause of beauty in a soule Now if in that law and in those sacrifices which were giuen by God himselfe beauty could be imparted to the soule it is euident that it must lesse haue bin in the law of Nature for as much as that had not so great remedyes against sinne and in particuler it had no written law But (c) No soule was euer purged for sinne but by the precious bloud of our Lord Jesus the beauty which then inhabited the soules of men as well vnder the law of Nature as that other which was written was obtained by the shedding of the bloud of that pretious lambe Iesus Christ our Lord who as S. Iohn (d) Apoc. 13. doth teach vs was slaine from the beginning of the world For although he dyed vpon the crosse in the latter dayes thereof for so the Apostles doe call the time of the comming of Christ yet is he sayd to haue beene slaine from the beginning of the world because euen from that tyme did (e) How the bloud of our Lord theÌ did worke before it was shed his death beginne to obtaine pardon and grace for them who grew to haue it So taking that vp as a man would say vpon trust which he would after pay vpon the crosse For God ordeined that as there was one Father who was the head and fountaine of sinne and death to all such as were to descend from him in an ordinary course so in like maÌner there should be one by whome all such as desired might be free both from that mischiefe wherin the other had placed them and from those others also which they should bring vpon themselues So saith Saint (f) Rom 5. Paul That as by the inobedience of one many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many should be made iust And (g) Let the Protestant note this truth without passion as the obedience which Iesus Christ performed to his Father euen to the death yea and the death of the Crosse doth not only make men iust by a kind of resemblance but by giuing of true iustice so the hurt that Adam did vs was not by giuing vs an example only of sinne but by making vs through his sinne true sinners And so that which (i) Act. 4. S. Peter sayd That there is no other name vnder heauen then that of Iesus Christ wherein we may thinke of being saued is not only to be vnderstood from the time that God became incarnate but from the beginning of the world as hath beene sayd Since they who at any time haue beene in grace with God were so by the merits of this our Lord by (k) Fayth pennaÌce are the meanes of applying the merits of Christ our Lord to a soule meanes of fayth pennance And although by the circumcision of Children Grace were giuen whereby they became iust and their originall sinne was pardoned yet was it not the circumcision alone which gaue the grace for that precious gift was reserued for the Sacramentes of the new law but (l) What that was which gaue grace in the old law it was A protestation of Faith in the Messias who was afterwards to come which protestation was to be made vnto him then And when after being growne in yeares they came to loose their grace by any mortall sinne they offered vp some such beast as God commaunded the bloud whereof was to be shed in the Temple Not to the end that it might iustify for that it had no power to do but that the sinner might protest the Faith which he had in that Lord who was to come And by this saith and by that inward sorrow for his sinns which God inspired he was made partaker of that pretious bloud of Christ which for the pardon of sinnes was to be shed Not (m) The same bloud of our Lord was the remedy also of sinne vnder the law of Nature only was there a remedy in the written law against sinne by faith and internall pennance as we haue said but also in the law of nature although it were not then required that their faith in our Lord should be so explicite But so also were there such exteriour protestations of their Faith as our Lord who would haue all men saued did inspire To the end that although the nations were diuers and their (n) In seuerall places seuerall externall rites may be vsed by the members of the same Church so that the Church allow the same as we see it is in Milan and many other places but the doctrine must be euery where alike externall rites were different yet the Sauiour and Mediatour betweene God and man as (o) 1. Tim. 2. S. Paul affirmeth might be but one CHAP. CVIII That Christ our Lord taketh away the deformity of the soule by his bloud and that it was conuenient that rather the Sonne should become man then either the Father or the holy Ghost and of the great force of
the bloud of Christ our Lord. CONSIDER then how deformed the spot is which sinne doth cause and how farre we are to fly from it since being once receiued into the soule it could neither be washed away by the shedding of so much bloud as was offered in the Temple by the commaundment of God himselfe nor could all the force of man arriue vnto it And if that beautifull and deare (a) Christ our Lord. Word of God had not come downe to beautify vs the deformity of sinne would for euer haue remained in vs. But that lambe without spot comming downe he had the power and he had the way and he had the will to put away these spotts he destroyed our deformity and he endewed vs with beauty And to the end that thou mayest see with how much conueniency the Sonne of God rather then God the Father or the holy Ghost was to be he that should beautify our deformed soules with his bloud Consider that as Eternity is attributed to the Father and Loue to the holy Ghost so to the Sonne of God as God is attributed Beauty because he is most (b) The first quality of Beauty prefect and without the least defect and he is the (c) The second quality of Beauty image of the Father as S. Paul (d) Heb. 1. saith and so liuely an one that in regard he is engendred by way of the vnderstanding he is to all purposes as his Father who gaue him the same essence that himselfe hath in such sort as that he (e) Ioan. 14. who seeth him seeth the Father as the holy ghospell saith Now by reason of this proportion betweene the Sonne and the Father which is so absolute most iustly is beauty ascribed to him since the image is taken in so liuely a maner out of the originall Light (f) The third quality of Beauty is not wanting to him for he is called the Worde which is a thing engendred by the vnderstanding and in that vnderstanding as S. Iohn (g) Ioan. 1. saith which was true light Greatnes is not (h) The fourth quality of beauty wanting to him since he is infinitly immense and therefore was it conuenient that this beautifull God by whom we were made wheÌ we were not should come to restore vs when we were lost and who apparaylling himselfe with our flesh should take vpon him the resemblance of our deformity and so imparte to vs the excellency of his owne beautie And although neither our being punished or spoken faire was able to free vs from our spots yet was the valew so great of the punishing of that beautiful person that the sharp salpetre of his passion falling vpoÌ his shoulders there distilled downe vpon vs the sweet dew of his whitnesse And howsoeuer God doth say to the sinner Although (i) Hier. 12. thou wash thy selfe with salpetre with the Fullers hearbe thou shalt not be cleane yet telling vs that he would send a remedy against this spot he sayth in another place If thy sinnes be as red as scarlet they shal be made white like snow and if they shal be as red as bloud they shall become whyte like woll Very truly well did Dauid belieue this when he (k) Ps 50. sayd Thou shalt sprinkle me O Lord with (l) The inward meaning of this place deliuered âyssope and I shal be cleane thou shalt wash me and I shall become more white then snow Hyssope is a litle hearbe and somewhat hot and hath the property to purge the lunges wherby we breath This hearbe they brought to a wand of Cedar they tyed it thereunto with a string of crimson double died And so being bound togeather they called it that Hyssope wherewith when first it had beene steeped in bloud and water and then with water and ashes they sprinkled both leaprous persons and such as had touched any dead body and thereupon they were held for cleane Full well knew Dauid that neither the herbe nor the Cedar nor the bloud of birdes or beastes nor yet water or ashes could giue any cleannesse to the soule although it were figured by them And therfore he desired not God that he would take into his hand a branch of Hyssope sprinkle him with it but (m) That hysop was a figure of the humility and Passion of Christ our Lord. he sayth so in respect of the humanity and humility of Iesus Christ our Lord which is called an herbe because it grew from the earth of the Blessed Virgin Mary and because he was begotten without the help of man as the flower springeth in the field which is neither plowed nor sowed For this it is that he sayth I am (n) Can. 2. the flower of the field And this her be is called little for the meanenesse which he tooke vpon himselfe in the world so far forth as to say A (o) Psal 21. worme I am and no man the dishonour of men and the very out-cast of the people This (p) The passion of our Lord is the only soueraign cure of pride humbled flesh of our Lord is such a remedy against the puffe of our foolish pride as that it may be cured by this so great humility since there is no colour for a worme to exalt it self when the King of Maiesty is so abased And forget not that Hyssope is hot For Christ by the fire of that loue which was burning in the roots of his hart was pleased to abase himself to purge vs thereby to make vs know that if he who was so high did abase himselfe how much reason there is why we who haue so true cause to abase our selues should not by our selues be exalted And if God be humble how much more should a man be so This (q) Of our Lord Iesus flesh so full of true phisicke was then put to the sticke of a Cedar when it was placed vpoÌ the crosse tyed by that delicate thrid of wooll twice died For although the nayles which fastned thereunto his handes and feete were hard and great and long inough yet if the thrid of his ardent loue had not fastned him to that crosse and vnles he had been willing to deliuer vp his life for the killing of our death those nayles would not haue beene strong inough for such a businsse So that it was not they but the loue he bare vs that held him there And (r) The double aspect which was carryed by the loue of our Lord the reparation of Gods honour and the remission of mans sin this loue carryed a double aspect as crimson which is double died for he suffered that which he suffered to satisfy for the honour of his father who was offended by our sinnes and for the loue of sinners who were lost thereby CHAP. CIX That the sacred humanity of Christ our Lord was figured in the gaââent of the high Priest and in the veyle which God commaunded Moyses to make
And what that was which Dauid begged when he desired to be sprinckled with Hysâope that he might so be cleansed THE garment which the high Priest of the old Law did weare was to be double died in crimson because (a) How the figurs of the old TestameÌt were perfected fullfilled in the person of our Lord Iesus the holy Humanity of Christ which is the garment of his soule was to be dyed in bloud being shed both for the loue of God and man And this flesh being nayled vpon the Crosse is that veyle which God commaunded Moyses to make of the (b) Exod. 18. colour of Hyacinth Crimson and Purple double died and of whyte and well and strongly wouen linnen made with the needle and curiously diuersified by seuerall workes For this holy Humanity is died with bloud like crimson it is of a fiery colour which is signified by the purple as hath been said and it is white like fyne linnen through Chastity and Innocency and it is well and strongly wouen for it is not loose or weake but firmely and fast put togeather vnder all kind of vertuous discipline and much affliction And (c) The colour of the floure hiacinthus is blew though the colour of that stone which we know by that name is of a deep yellow this is well signifyed by the Hyacinth which is of a celestiall colour because his body was framed by the supernatural worke of the holy Ghost For this reson is it called celestiall and for many other vertues perfections thereof which were contriued by the admirable knowledge of the wisedome of God! The commaundment was that this veyle should be hung vpon foure pillars which were to vphold it which signifieth that Christ was to be placed vpon the (d) The crosse was made of foure parts One was the length two the breath the other wherupoÌ the litle was written foure armes of the Crosse and foure Ghospells they also be which doe publish and preach it throughout the world Now for as much as Dauid being a Prophet so illuminated by God in the knowledge of those mysteries which concerned Christ who was to come seeing how deformed himselfe was growne by the foule sinne of (c) The murther which he committed vpon the persoÌ of Vrias that so he might coÌtinue to enioy Bersabee his wife stealing the sheep and murthering the sheepheard fearing the wrath of the Omnipotent God wherwith he was threatened by the mouth of the Prophet Nathan he beseecheth God to take away his (f) The deformity of sinne the beauty of grace deformity and to giue him beauty not with materiall Hyssope since the same Dauid sayd to God That he tooke no (g) Not in any thing that was only external but the externall sacrifices were to be accompanied by internall sorrow for sinne delight in the sacrifice of beasts but he beggeth to be sprinckled by the flesh bloud of Iesus Christ being tied with the strings and cordes of loue vpon the Crosse Beleeuing that though his deformity were great and that otherwise it was impossible to remoue it yet he should grow white beyond the whitenesse of snow by the bloud which was to fall from the crosse O Beautifull bloud of Christ our Lord who art so Beautiful For although thou be as red as Rubies thou hast power to make a thing more white theÌ snow O (h) At the least we must now consider it and lameÌt the cause thereof which is our sinne if a man had seene with what violence it was drawne downe by those wretches with what loue it was shed by thee O Lord when thou didst stretch forth thyne armes and feete to be let bloud therein for the remedy of that so lewd disorder and distemper which we made by our ill desires and deedes With great force did thyne enemies come vpon thee but with much more violence did thy loue assault thee for it was that and not they which ouercame thee Dauid did stile Christ (i) Psalm 44. beautifull aboue all the sonnes of men But this beautifull creature who surpassed not only men but Angells would needes as it were dissemble that beauty of his and he apparailed the exteriour of his body with the resemblance of that deformity which possest our soules That so the same deformity might be swallowed vp in the Abysse of his beauty as some little straw would be consumed in a huge fire and that he might giue vs his owne beautifull Image and make vs so resemble him CHAP. CX How Christ did as it were dissemble those foure conditions of his beauty so to make vs beautifull to which purpose there is a passage of the Prophet Isay declared YF we do well consider the conditions which haue bin shewed to be requisite for the making a man beautifull al which are in the diuine word after a most excellent manner we shal find that he dissembled and hid them all that so being concealed in him they might grow to be disclosed in vs. Most (a) The first conditioÌ that any thing must haue if it will be beautifull was hidden by Christ Iesus our Lord in his sacred passion entire and perfect and full is the word of God which wanteth nothing nor can it want and which remooueth the want of all thinges But yet though in the bosome of his Father he be so rich if thou looke vpon him being made man in the wombe and in the armes of his mother as also throughout the whole course of his life and death thou wilt see how he wanted both to eate and drinke yea and a bed wheron to lye when the Virgin layd him in the manger For neither was there any bed for him in the stable of Bethleem nor any other place then that How often did he want meanes to put away both heate and cold and nothing he had if they gaue him nothing And if in his life tyme he had not a place where to lay his head as himselfe affirmeth what shall we say of that extremity of pouerty to which he was subiect in his death at which tyme neither had he any thing whereupom so much as to lay his head For eyther he was to haue leaned backe with it vpon the Crosse and so to endure excessiue paine by the thornes which might pricke him so much the deeper or else he must let it fall so remaine without a rest but not without exceeding paine O sacred head whereof the Spouse (b) Cant 5. saith That it is of purest gold as being the head of God and how much to thy cost dost thou pay for that resting place which in preiudice of the loue that we owe to thy selfe we procure to find vpon thy creatures both (c) How true is this and how truly ought it to be reformed louing them and desiring to be beloued and praised by them making that to be our lodging which should be only our high way whereby we might
ariue to repose in thee Now the reason why he passeth through such want and pouerty is declared by S. Paul who saith You know well O brethren the grace which our Lord Iesus Christ imparted to vs who being rich did make himselfe poore for vs that so we might grow rich by his pouerty And the while thou seest that the first condition of beauty which was to be complete is altogeather hidden and as it were dissembled by him since to him there was so much wanting vpon earth who in heauen was abundance it selfe If now thou wilt consider the second condition of the Beautifull word of God which is to be (d) The second condition of the beauty of our Lord was hidden by him in the passioÌ the most perfect image of his Father and proportionable to him and equall to him thou wilt find that on earth he dissembled this condition no lesse then the former For tell me what is the Father but Strength Wisdome Honour Beauty Bounty Ioy and such other excellencies which all togeather do make vp an infinite Good Well then do thou place on the one side this admirable Originall which is all glorious in it selfe adored by the Angells and (c) If euer thou wilt lend me thy attention and thy compassion I beg it now then call to mind that passage which in reason ought to passe yea and passe through the most internall partes of our very soules when this beautiful image of the Father Iesus Christ our Lord was brought out from the Tribunall of Pilate most cruelly scourged and vested with a purple robe and tormented with that crowne which was of scorne in their eyes that saw it and of insufferable payne in him that felt it His hands in the meane tyme were bound and a Cane or Reed was put into them His eyes full of teares and of bloud with all which ran downe from his head His cheeks pale and wanne and full also of bloud and defiled vvith filthy spittle vvhich they had darted out vpon his face And vnder this paine and shame vvas he brought out to be seeme by all the people and thus it vvas said Behold the man And this vvas done to the end that his shame might increase in being seene by them and that compassion might once grovv in their hartes vvhen they perceaued in vvhat case he vvas and so they might giue ouer the persecution of a man vvhoÌ they saw in such a passion But (f) Infinit patience and loue of our Lord and inscrutable malice of the wicked Iewes O vvith hovv wicked eyes did they behold the paines of him vvho yet did feele more paine for their perdition then for those very paines of his owne since insteed of quenching that fire of their frantike malice with the water of the dishonour which they saw him in it burned but more and more like wild-fyre which burnes in water They would not hearken to that worde which was said to them by Pilate Behold the man for they cared not for seeing him there but sayd that they would see him vpon a Crosse But thou at least O soule which art redeemed by the torments of Christ do thou hearken and let all of vs hearken to this word Behold the man least otherwise we grow aliens from the redemption of Iesus Christ if we cannot find in our harts to be mindfull and gratefull to him in respect of them When we (g) A consideration which wil pierce the harts of al such as hauethenâ not of flint bring forth any thing to the end that it may be seene we are wont to dresse it the best we can that so it may enamoure the lookers on And when we bring forth any thing that we would haue to be feared we set it out with a shew of Armes Trophees and we accompany it with such other thinges as may make them tremble that behold it And when we make any representation that should moue a man to tears we apparail it in mourning and we giue it all those additions that may induce men to sorrow Then tell me what was the intention of Pilate in drawing Christ our Lord into the view of the people It was certainely not to make them loue him nor to make them feare him and therefore they did neither beautify him nor set him out with Guardes Caualliers but he brought him forth to appease the cruell harts of the Iewes by that spectacle of our Redeemer And this was not to be done by the way of loue For well did Pilate know hovv cordially and profoundly they abhorred him but he had a desire to pacify them euen by the pure force of those excessiue torments which were indured by that delicate body of his so much to his cost For this it was that Pilate did dresse Christ our Lord with such a dressing of torments which were both so many and so great as might haue serued to moue compassion in al such as saw him how much soeuer they did detest him It (h) No Christian soule can doubt of this is therefore to be belieued that he brought him forth the most afflicted the most abased and the most dishonoured that he could deuise Making it his study how to deforme him as one would study to beautify and adorne some gallant birde that so he might appease the wrath of such as hated him since he found by experience that he could not do it by other meanes And now tell me if Christ was brought forth in such a fashion as might haue serued to quench the fire of hate in their harts that abhorred him how (i) It is more theÌ reason mightily is it reason that the sight and shew of him should kindle the fire of loue in their harts who know him to be God and who confesse him to be their Redeemer Isay the (k) Isa 5â Prophet saw this passage long before it was brought to effect And being in contemplation of our Lord he sayd He (l) Heere giue thyn eares and thy hart to God hath no beauty nor delicacy we haue seene him and there was nothing to be seene in him and we desired to haue him despised and the most abased thing amongst men a man of griefe and who did euen possesse the knowledg of torments His face was as if it were hidden and despised and therefore we had him in no estimation It was truely he that bare our infirmityes and himselfe did suffer our paynes and we esteemed of him as some leaprous person and as stroken by the hand of God and so deiected If thou wilt weigh these wordes of Isay one by one thou wilt easily see how the beauty of Christ was all concealed in that day of his affliction for the beautifying of vs. The (m) Heere see the different christ our Lord grew to be from himselfe and it was all for our sakes Spouse speaking to Christ doth say in the (n) Cant. 5. Canticles Thou art faire thou
may be a light not only to the Iewes who belieued vpon his preaching to them in person but to the Gentills also who liued in idolatry far off from God And then was it fulfilled which (f) Luc. 2. Simeon that holy Swanne did singe when he said out of his desire to dye Now Lord thou lettest thy seruant depart in peace according to thy worde for myne eyes haue seene thy saluation which thou hast prepared in the sight of all Nations A light to the Gentills and a glory to thy people of Israel If we consider that Christ was placed by the hand of Pilate to be seene first by that people in his owne house and afterward from the top of the Crosse in Mount Caluary it wil be euident to vs that although in respect there came to the Paschall men of all conditions and Tribes as well of naturalls as strangers there must needes be great store of people yet was not Christ therefore placed in the view and presence of all people as Simeon in his Canticle had sunge And therefore Christ was placed in the view and presence of them all when he was preached through the world by the Apostles and their successours Of whome Dauid (g) Psalm 18. said That their sound went out through the whole earth and that their wordes did reach to the very endes thereof For (h) Our Lord is the light both of Iewes and Gentills Of the Iewes he is more particulerly the honour because he tooke their flesh in the pure wombe of the perpetuall Virgin Christ being thus preached was light then and is so now to those Gentills who will belieue in him and so he is both light and honour to the Iewes who also will belieue in him as S. Paul expresseth speaking of them of whome Christ came according to the flesh who is God being blessed aboue all thinges for all eternity Let vs now consider how farre otherwise this was ordeined by God from that which Pilate did intend He conceaued that he but placed Christ in the presence of that people no more and he said Behold heere the man and he thought when they would not let him dismisse him but demaunded that he might be crucified that he should neuer more haue byn seene by any But (i) How different the thoughts of God are from the thoughts of men because the eternall Father saw it was not reason that such a spectacle as that was of his only begotten Sonne being the image of his owne beauty should be beheld by so few and those so wicked eyes or should be presented only to so hard hartes as theirs he ordained that another voyce more loud then that should be sounded forth throughout the world by the mouth of many and they most holy publishers thereof who should also say Behold the man The voyce of Pilate could not sound far off for it was but one and a wicked one inspired by feare through which he sentenced Christ to death He deserued not to be the proclaimer of this word Behold the man and therefore did God command it to be proclaimed by others And that so far from any feare of theirs that rather they did desire and rather they do resolue to dye then to faile of one (k) The courage of the Apostles of Apostolicall men tittle in preaching and confessing the truth and glory of Christ Iesus Pilate was a prophane and foule person for he was a sinnefull and an vnbelieuing man But of the other proclaymers of this word Behold he man I say prophetizeth (l) Isa 52. saying How beautifull vpon the mountaynes be their feet who preach the good newes of peace and of benediction and who say In Sion thy God shall raigne The God of Sion is Christ Iesus in whose person Dauid prophetizeth saying Psalm 2. I am made King by the handes of God ouer Sion that holy mountaine of his preaching his commandment And this King who preacheth the Fathers commandment which is the word of the Holy Ghospell began to raigne in Sion and he was receaued vpon Palme-Sunday for the King of Israel in the Temple which was placed vpon Mount Sion And to the end we may vnderstand that this Kingdome was to be ouer spirituall things it is said by Dauid that he was made King ouer Mount Sion which is the mountain where that Temple stood wherein the worship of God was performed And (m) How the spiritual kingdome of Christ our Lord grew to increase afterward when vpon the same Mount Sion our Lord sent the Holy Ghost vpon his disciples and he was preached publikely in the middest of Hierusalem and in the eares of the High Priests and Pharisees and when by the first sermon of S. Peter (n) Act. 2. vpon the point of three thousand men were conuerted then was this Kingdome of his increased And when more people were yet coÌuerted the Apostles did preach and say to Sion Thy God shall raigne As if a man had sayd Though yet this Lord of ours be knowne but by a few yet shall his kingdome euer go increasing till such tyme as that at the end of the world he may raigne ouer all men rewarding the good with mercy and punishing the wicked with the iron rodde of his rigorous iustice This is the voyce of the preachers of Christ which saith Thy God shall raigne And (o) If a preacher will profit others he must begin with himselfe because Christ raigneth not in the hart of an vncleane person for as much as sinne raigneth therein it is not fit that he should preach the Kingdom of Christ to others who will not giue him leaue to raigne in his owne soule Therfore is it that Isay (p) Isa 5â sayth The feet of such as preach peace vnto vs are beautifull By the feete which are to be beautifull are signifyed the desires of the soule And therfore Christ would not haue the feet of those preachers couered with shoes on (q) These are Sandalles which still are vsed by many holy Orders in the Catholique Church the vper part because God doth place the beauty of them in publike for the example of many But yet whosoeuer hath his feet cleane is to be very carefull not to thinke that himselfe made them so but he must giue thankes to him that washt the feet of his disciples with visible water vpon Holy Thursday and who washeth the soules of all them which euer come to be washed with his sacred bloud It was not therfore reason that so cleane a king as Christ was should be proclaimed by such a filthy mouth as that of Pilate or that there should be but such a proclaimer as could speake no louder and who was but one to publish a spectacle wherein so many and so great wonders were to be declared as were in Christ when he was brought forth to be seene by the people And though (r) The difference betweene a Pilate and a pious
Christian Pilate might conceaue that quickly there would be no more thought of Christ nor any that would haue compassion of him yet God ordained that insteed of those few who did spit vpon him there might be may be shal be many who are with reuerence to adore him And that insteed of them who for the loathsomnesse of the spectacle could not endure to look vpoÌ him there should be many who might ioy in beholding that most blessed face as a most pure and perfect glasse though it were placed vpon a (s) The place of the greatest reproach that could be thoâhâ of Crosse And insteed of theÌ who thought him to deserue all that which he suffered there should be so many who might confesse that he committed no euill for which he ought to suffer but only that themselues had sinned and that he suffered for the loue of them And lastly if their cruelty were so great as not to haue compassion of him but demanded that he might be murthered vpon the crosse God was pleased that there should be many who would desire to dye for Christ and who with all their soules would say I see (t) The wordes of a soule which is the spouse of Christ our Lord. O thou my friend that thou art wounded and full of payne and I would to God I could suffer it for thee Let not therfore Pilate thinke that he dressed Christ so in vayne though he could not moue them who then were present to compassion since now so many vpon the remembrance of those afflictions of Christ haue so great pitty of him that in their harts they are scourged crowned and crucified togeather with him as S. Paul affirmeth both of himselfe and in the person of many others CHAP. CXII How great reason it is that we should behold this man Christ with those eyes wherewith many of them to whome the Apostles preached did behold him that so we may grow beautifull And that this beauty is giuen vs through his grace and not through our owne merits A Most reasonable thing it is O Virgin that these motiues which are so pregnant and these examples which are so full of life should moue thee thou hauing first cast away all tepidity to fixe him in thy hart with a profound and cordiall loue who so much to his torment was placed nayled vpon the Crosse for thee And that thou be none of those hard-harted persons who heard those wordes spoken in vayne but of those others to whome the hearing thereof hath beene a cause of saluation Be none of them who had not the grace to esteeme that which was present to them but of those others in whose person Isay sayth We desired to see him for many Kinges and Prophets haue desired to see the face and to heare the voyce of Christ our Lord. Behold (a) How necessary it is for vs to behold Christ our Lord crucifyed therefore O Virgin this man Christ Iesus who is published by the voyce of one that is not worthy to proclaime him thus Behold this man that thou mayst then come to heare his wordes for he is that maister which the Father gaue vs. Behold this man that thou mayst imitate his life for there is no way whereby thou canst be saued but he Behold this man that thou mayst haue compassion of him for he was brought to such a passe as might haue mooued euen his enemies to compassion Behold this man to lament ouer him for it is we who by our sinnes haue brought him to the case he is in Behold this man that thou mayst loue him for he hath suffered infinitly for vs. Behold this man that thou mayest beautify thy selfe by him for in him thou shalt find all the colours of beauty that thou canst desire Red by the new buffetts which they gaue him Blew by those which he had receiued the night before Yeallow by the abstinence of his whole life and by the affliction which he had passed through in that night White by the spittle which they had discharged vpon him and Blacke by those blowes wherwith they had new moulded his sacred face his cheekes all swelled and of as many colours as those wretches could paint vpon them For Isay (b) Isa 50. prophesied thus in the person of Christ I gaue my cheekes to those that would pull them and my body to them that would afflict it What waters what enamells what white and red mayest thou find heere wherewith to beautify thy selfe if by thy negligence thou leaue them not Behold this man O Virgin for whosoeuer beholdeth him not shall not escape from death For as Moyses did exalt the serpent in the desert vpon a staffe that they who were wounded might recouer by looking on it and those others dye who did not looke so (c) It is not with fayth alone that we must looke vpon our Lord but with faith loue whosoeuer shall not looke with faith and loue vpon Christ who is placed vpon the wood of the Crosse shal dye for euer And as I told thee before that we must beseech the Father by saying Looke O Lord vpon the face of thy Christ so also doth the Eternall Father coÌmaund and say to vs Looke O man vpon the face of (d) Christ our Lord is not only the Christ of God but of vs also thy Christ and if thou wouldst haue me looke vpon his face to pardon thee looke thou vpon his face that by him thou mayest desyre me to giue thee pardon In (e) The great God and this wretched man can only be made to meet in Christ our Lord. the face of Christ our Mediatour the Fathers sight and ours doe come to meete There do the beames of our belieue and loue there do the beames of his grace and pardon determine themselues Christ is called the Christ of the Father because the Father engendred him gaue him what he hath And Christ is called our Christ because he offered himselfe for vs bestowing vpon vs all his merits Behold therefore the face of thy Christ belieuing in him confiding in him and louing him and all others for him Behold the face of thy Christ by meditating on him and by comparing thy life with his that so as in a glasse thou mayest see thy faultes and how far thou art off from him so knowing the sinnes which deforme thee thou mayest take of his tears of his bloud which streame downe ouer that beautifull face of his and with griefe mayest wash away those spotts and so thou mayst become beautifull and iust But as the Iewes tooke off their eyes from Christ because they saw him so ill handled so doth Christ take his eyes off from that soule which is wicked and which as leaprous is abhorred by him But when he hath beautifyed it by the grace that he gained for it by his afflictions he placeth his eyes vpon it saying How (f) Cant. 4. beautifull art thou
O my Friend how beautifull art thou Thyne eyes are as of a doue besides that which is hidden within He saith two seuerall times That she is beautifull because (g) The soule that serueth God must haue both good desires good deeds she must be so both in body and soule within by desires and without by deeds And because that which is within is to exceed that which is without he therefore saith Besides that which is within And for that the beauty of the soule as S. Augustine saith doth consist in louing God he therefore saith Thyne eyes are as of a doue Whereby is noted that syncere and amourous intention which only aymes at the pleasing of God without any mixture of proper interest Then Behold thou Christ that Christ may behold thee And (h) We must giue all glory to God take the shame to ourselues as thou must take heede of thinking that he had done any thing for which he might deserue to take vpon him the shew of being deformed so be sure thou haue no imagination that thou hast deserued the beauty which he gaue thee of meere grace For without any obligation did he vest himselfe with our deformity and without any obligation but of meere grace he hath apparailed vs with his beauty Of such men as thinke that the beauty which they haue in their soules they haue of themselues God saith by (i) Ezech 16. Ezechiel thou wert perfected by the beauty which I had placed vpon thee and yet hauing confidence in that beauty (k) As if it had beene his owne not only imparted by God of thine thou didst commit fornication in thyne owne name and thou didst expose thy selfe in that sinne to all such as passed by to be made theirs This God doth say For when a soule ascribeth to her selfe the beauty of Iustice which God gaue her she doth after a sort commit fornication with her selfe For as much as she desireth to ioy in her selfe and not in God who is her true spouse and from whome she hath all her being beautifull and she resolueth rather to glory in her owne name which is to commit fornication in that name then to glory in God who gaue her that which she possesseth For this cause doth God with great reason take away the beauty which he gaue her since she rebelled from him by occasion thereof And because this vaine and wicked complacence which she taketh in her selfe is pride and the beginning of all mischeife therefore it is said Thou didst offer thy selfe in the way of fornication to euery passenger For (l) A iust punishment the proud man leaning resting vpon himself who is but a meere vanity is carried away with euery winde taken prisoner by euery sinne that passeth by and that most iustly because he would not humble himselfe so as to be established by putting his confidence in God Behold therfore this man Christ Iesus in himselfe and behold him in thy selfe In thy selfe that so thou mayst see who thou art In himselfe that so thou mayst see who he is Those ignominyes and abasements of his thou didst deserue and therefore they are thyne The good which is in thee is his and he gaue it without any merit in thee CHAP. CXIII Wherein is prosecuted the way that we are to take in beholding of Christ and how he is beautifull in all thinges and that those thinges which in our Lord seeme vgly to the eyes of flesh bloud such as are troubles and torments be of great beauty IF thou know how to make the right vse of that which hath been sayd thou wilt employ all thy intention in beholding this Lord of ours with thy spirituall eyes thou wilt find it to be of more profit to thee then if thou didst see him with the only eyes of flesh and bloud For to these eyes Christ was made deformed but in the eyes of fayth he was full of beauty Isay sayth That to the eyes of the body his face was as if it had beene hidden but (a) How cleare and piercing are the eyes of Fayth nothing is hidden from the eyes of fayth but like the eyes of a Leopard which looketh as it were through walles they passe through all exteriour impediments and striking in they find diuine strength vnder that humane weaknes and vnder contempt and dishonour they find beauty with glory So that the wordes which Isay sayd We saw him and he had no beauty were spoken in the person of such as beheld him with the only eyes of their body But thou O Virgin take in thy hand the light of fayth and looke further in and thou wilt perceaue that he who comes forth in likenes of a sinner is both iust and a iustifyer of sinners and that he who is murthered hath in him the innocency of a lambe And he that hath his face all discoloured is of himself most beautifull and did but dresse himselfe so for the making of them beautifull who were deformed And (b) There is nothing that ought so to enamour a soule vpoÌ the beauty of christ out Lord as to consider that our sinnes and his loue did cause his deformity how much the more the spouse doth suffer and abase himselfe for his fellow-spouse so much the more is she to exalt him and how much the more he commeth wounded and steeped as it were in sweat bloud so much the more beautifull is he in her eyes considering the loue wherwith he resolued to suffer those afflictions for her And in fine it is cleare that if we ponder the cause why Christ tooke vpon him this deformity so much the more beautifull will he seeme to be as he shall seeme to be more deformed Tell (c) The foure coÌditions of beauty recapitulated The first me therefore now if the first condition of beauty were hidden in him when being rich and aboundant he abased himselfe to the want of many thinges what cause can be assigned thereof but that he did it to preuent euery want of ours And (d) The second if he grew to seem vnlike the image of his beautyfull Father it was for no other reason but because the Father resolued not to giue vs beauty but by the sonnes taking vpon him our deformity And (e) The third if the third condition which is light or heat did hide it selfe from that sacred face which was obscured and mortifyed and those bright shining eyes were darkned when he was dying and after he was dead why was it but to giue light to put a liuely colour vpoÌ our obscurities According to that which himselfe figured when of spittle which signified himselfe as God and of earth which signifyed his humanity he made durt which signifyed his contumelious passion and so the blind man who signifyed mankind receaued sight And (f) The fourth condition of beauty if when he made himself man and that the most abased of men
64. Of a profitable exercise of knowing the being which we haue in Nature that by it we may obtayne Humility pag. 316. Chap. 65. How the exercising of our selues in the knowledge of the supernaturall being which we haue of grace doth serue towards the obteyning of Humility pag. 321. Chap. 66. Wherein the aforesaid exercise is prosecuted in particuler manner pag. 326. Chap. 67. Wherein he prosecuteth the former exercise and of the much light which our Lord is wont to giue by meanes thereof whereby they know the greatnes of God and as it were the Nothing of their litlenes pag. 332. Chap. 68. Wherein he beginneth to treate of the consideration of Christ our Lord and of the mysteries of his life and death and of the great reason we haue to exercise our selues in this consideration and of the great fruites which grow from thence pag. 336. Chap. 69. Wherein he prosecuteth that of the former Chapter pondereth this passage of the Canticles in contemplation of the passion of Christ pag. 343. Chap. 70. That the exercise of prayer is most important and of the great fruit which is reaped thereby pag. 350. Chap. 71. That the pennance due to our sinnes must be the first pace whereby we come to God conceauing true griefe for them and making true Confession thereof and satisfaction pag. 361. Chap. 72. How the second pace towardes the bringing vs to God is the giuing of thankes which we owe him for his hauing so deliuered vs and of the manner how this is to be done by meanes of diuers Misteryes of the Passion which are to be meditated in diuers dayes pag. 363. Chap. 73. Of the way which we are to hold in the consideration of the life and passion of Iesus Christ our Lord. pag. 367. Chap. 74. Wherein the way of considering the life of Iesus Christ our Lord to the end that it may be of greater profit to vs is prosecuted in a more particuler manner pag. 369. Chap. 75. VVherein some directions are giuen for our greater profit in the aforesaid exercise of Prayer and for the auoyding of some inconueniences which to ignorant persons are wont to arriue pag. 374. Chap. 76. That the end of Meditation of the Passion is to be the imitation thereof and what is to be the beginning and ground of greater things which we are to imitate pag. 380. Chap. 77. That the Mortification of our passions is the second fruit which we are to draw out of the meditation of the passion of Christ our Lard and how we are to vse this exercise that so we may gather admirable fruit thereby pag. 388. Chap. 78. That the most excellent thing which we are to meditate and imitate in the passion of our Lord is the loue wherewith he offered himselfe to the Eternall Father pag. 394. Chap. 79. Of the burning Loue wherewith Christ Iesuâ loued God and men for God from which loue as from a fountaine that did spring which he suffered in the exteriour and that also which he suffered in the interiour which was much more then the other pag. 403. Chap. 80 Wherein is prosecuted the tendernes of the loue of Christ towards men and of that which caused his interiour griefe and gaue him a Crosse to carry in his hart all the dayes of his life pag. 409. Chap. 81. Of other profitable Considerations which may be drawne out of the Passion of our Lord and of other meditations which may be made vpon other points and of some directions for such as cannot easily put that which hath bin said in practise pag. 415. Cap. 82. How attentiuely our Lord doth heare vs how piteously he doth behold vs if we manifest our infirmityes to him with that griefe which is fit and how ready he is to cure vs and to do vs many other fauours pag. 420. Chap. 83. Of two threates which God vseth to expresse One absolute and the other conditionall and of two kinds of promises like those threats and how we are to carry our selues when they arriue pag. 426. Chap. 84. What a man is of his owne stocke and of the great benefits that we enioy by Iesus Christ our Lord. pag. 429. Chap. 85. How lowd Christ cryed out and doth euer cry out for vs before the Eternall Father and with how great speede his Maiesty doth heare the prayers of men and bestoweth benefittes vpon them by meanes of this out-cry of his sonne pag. 438. Chap. 86. Of the great loue wherewith our Lord doth behold such as are iust and of the much that he desyâeth to communicate himselfe to creatures and to destroy our sinnes which we must behold with detestation that God may looke vpon them with compassion pag. 446. Chap. 87. Of the many and great benefits which come to men in that the Eternall Father doth behold the face of Iesus Christ his Sonne pag. 451. Cap. 88. How it is to be vnderstood that Christ is our Iustice least otherwise we should fall into some errour by conceauing that iust persons haue not a distinct iustice from that whereby Iesus Christ is iust pag. 457. Chap. 89. That sinne doth not remaine in iust Persons but that the guilt of sinne is destroyed in them that they are cleane and acceptable to God pag. 462. Chap. 90. That the graunting that there is perfect cleanesse from sinne in such as are iust by the merits of Christ Iesus doth not only not diminish his honour but much more declare it pag. 467. Chap. 91. How some passages of holy Scripture are to be vnderstood wherein it is said that Christ Iesus is our Iustice and such other propositions as that is for the better declaration of the precedent Chapters pa. 472. Chap. 92. That we must fly fast from pride which is wont to grow vp apace by occasion of good workes considering the much which is merited by them and of a particuler instruction which Christ hath giuen vs wherby we may profit against this tentation pag. 476. Chap. 93. That a man being humbled and abased by the contents of the last Chapter may enioy that greatnes which our Lord vouchsafeth to impart to the works of such as are iust with confidence gratitude p. 483. Cap. 94. That froÌ the loue which we beare our selues we must draw a reason of louing our neighbours p. 486. Cap. 95. That from the knowledge of the loue which Christ beareth to vs we are to draw a reason for louing our neighbours pag. 488. Chap. 96. Of another consideration which teacheth vs in excellent manner how we are to carry our selues with our Neighbours pag. 491. Chap. 97. He beginneth to treate of that word of the verse which sayth Forget thy people And of the two sorts of men which there are good and bad of the names which are giuen to euill men and of their seuerall significations pag. 497. Chap. 98. That it doth much import vs to fly from this Citty of the wicked which is the world and how ill
themselues esteeming that they are somewhat and resting so vpon their owne strength To this soule therfore the Spouse doth say If thou dost not know thy selfe get thee out and see the footsteps of thy heards of Cattell Which is as much as if he had sayd that he gaue herââuer to follow the trace and workes of sinners who commit iniquity by troopes like heardes of Cattel one helping on the other And (d) Companions in sinne companionâ in torment so also at the last day shall they be tyed vp in bundles to be iointly burnt in the fire of hell who heere haue iointly giuen themselues to sinne And the spouse to such a soule doth say Thy heardes because sin is of vs and not of God and the good that we do is of God and not of vs since we do it by vertue of him Now this he is resolued that we should soundly know to be so not so much for that which it importeth him whose glory in himselfe is not increased although he be glorifyed by vs but for that which concerneth vs for whose good it makes and that greatly to know that the honour of all the good we haue or do must be ascribed to him and not to vs. And if of that which he placed in vs for his owne prayse we will erect an Idoll by attributing the glory of the incorruptible God to our selues who are corruptible men he will not suffer it to passe vnpunished but will say Continue thou with that which is thyne and perish since thou wouldest not remaine in me who had a mind to saue thee from perishing O with how (e) Read take heed and tremble high Truth are these words accomplished in proud men and how soone do they grow from being spirituall to be carnall from being recollected to be dissolute from being gold to be durt And they who were wont to feed vpon the bread of heauen with gust do afterwards take pleasure to eat the food of swine And it groweth to be afflictiue to theÌ not only to do the works of God but euen to heare men speak of him Whence doest thou thinke it did proceed that some persons who were chast in their youth although they were assaulted with stinging temptations when they came into old age haue miserably fallen into such deformed vilenes of this kind as that they were amazed and euen did abhorre themselues The cause was this In their youth they liued with holy feare and with humility and finding themselues so vpon the brimme of falling they called vpon God and were defended by him But (f) The fruit of pride when afterward vpon a long possession of the chastity which they had they grew to be high fed and to confide in themselues at that very instant were they forsaken by the hand of God and did that which was proper to themselues which was to fall And so is it accomplished That they feede their kiddes which are their light and dishonest appetites neere the Tentes of the sheepheardes which are the bodies of the creatures of God For in them they dwell as if it were in a Tente which is set vp in a field to be remooued vpon euery short warning and not as in a house or Citty of rest And so they are sayd with much reason to feede their senses vpon bodies and thinges belonging to the body because by their pride they lost the true sense which they had belieuing otherwise of themselues then they are which is indeed but to be sinners and good for nothing of themselues and robbing God of that glory which doth so duly and truly belong to him for all the good which we doe at all Awake therfore O daughter and be warned by the hurt of others and serue thy selfe of the threat least otherwise thou be put to feele the smart And be thou like the spouse to whome this speach was vsed who hearing so sad a word of Go thy wayes and see to fall from his mouth from whome all good thinges proceed she considered and she knew herselfe and she cast off certayne presumptions to which formerly she had beene subiect Being thus humbled by this reprehension the spouse doth comfort (g) Cant. 5. her by saying I haue resembled thee O thou my friend to my troopes of horse amongst Pharaos Chariots thy cheekes are fayre as of a Turtle By pride a man growes like the Diuell who as the Ghospell sayth did not remaine in the Truth which is God but did resolue to subsist in himselfe and vpon himselfe to leane and rest and so he fell For a creature cannot subsist in himselfe but in God And on the other side a man by the humble knowledge of himself growes like to those good Angells who did cast themselues vpon God and vntied themselues from themselues For they saw that they were but as a kind of broken reed so God vpheld them and confirmed them And they cryed out saying Michael which signifyeth Who like to God Wherein they contradicted the wretched Lucifer and his followers who would needes make Idolls of themselues ascribing that to themselues which did belong to God which is To be the beginning and the protection and the entiere repose of all creatures Not as if they conceaued that this could be they who knew themselues to be creatures but because they tooke pleasure in it as if so it had beene As proud men vse to do who although with the mouth or vnderstanding they crye out that they hold and hope for all their good from God yet by (h) Note and take heed their will they exalt themselues and they vainely reioyce in themselues as if of themselues they had that good Confessing with their vnderstanding that the glory is due to God but robbing him of it by the will But those good Angells cry out both with the will and vnderstanding Who like to God For with their harts they did humble and disesteeme themselues as they knew by their vnderstanding that they were to do And for this they were exalted to the participation of God without so much as a possibility of euer loosing it Now to these troupes of horse which is the Angelical army that destroyed Pharao and his chariots in the red sea Christ compareth his Spouse when she is content to know measure her selfe he praiseth her cheekes wherein she vseth to shew bashfullnesse For the spouse was ashamed of that reprehension as hauing demanded higher thinges then were conuenient for her meanenesse And her cheekes of bold grew bashfull and chast as of the turtle which is an honest and a modest bird And for this it was that the deuout S. Bernard (i) S. Bernââ was therefore no Protestant sayd That he had found by experience that nothing was more profitable for the obtayning conseruing or reconering of grace then euer to liue in feare and holy care When (k) A Christian must euer liue with a holy kind of feare and